Defying Death
by JazzieG
Summary: Danny comes into contact with a deadly pathogen. Can he survive something that has no known cure? Happy Birthday Mimi05! A little bad language, but nothing too horrendous.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing to do with the show!**

**A/N: This is the fault of Mimi05! So, Happy Birthday Mimi! I hope you enjoy this story as it's written for you.**

**I have totally stolen the idea from a Criminal Minds episode, I have no shame! **

Chapter 1

Danny Williams stood naked as the day he was born under a stream of water. That wouldn't be so unusual given that he showered twice a day, sometimes more depending on what horrors his partner, Steve McGarrett, could get them involved with. No, he wasn't at home or at the 5-0 HQ showering, nothing so mundane. Danny was standing in a decontamination tent outside a cabin on Maui being hosed down by two guys in Hazmat suits.

Danny was relieved that the sides were opaque so he couldn't be seen in all his naked glory by the personnel that were milling around waiting for him to be evacuated so that they could clear the scene.

-5-0-

The day had started just like any other. Danny walked into the 5-0 offices munching on a malasada and Steve was walking next to him lecturing the shorter man on the damage he was doing to his body.

"Babe, how many times do I have to tell you, there is nothing wrong with my body?!"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with your body, I'm sure it's aesthetically pleasing…"

"Did you just use the word 'aesthetically' to describe my body?" Danny stopped in the middle of the main room, right by the computer table.

"Yes Danno, as I was saying, I'm sure it's aesthetically pleasing to members of the opposite sex, or even the same sex…"

"I'm not gay Steven!"

"I never said you were Daniel. A man who is comfortable with his own sexuality can admit when he thinks another man looks attractive, being gay has nothing to do with it," Steve rolled his eyes.

"So, you think I'm attractive!" Danny stated smugly.

"I didn't say that…"

"Are you not comfortable with your own sexuality Steve? I have to tell you, I'm very comfortable with mine and as such I can admit that you are an attractive member of the male of the species, with your tall, muscular build…"

"And you two wonder why everyone thinks you're married!" snorted Kono as she entered.

"Good morning Kono," greeted Danny, completely ignoring the married comment as he has been doing since he started partnering with the Navy SEAL. "Steve was just saying that he thinks my body is aesthetically pleasing…"

"I didn't actually say that, exactly!" protested Steve.

"I think he doth protest too much!" Danny grinned.

"Are they at it again?" asked Chin coming to join his cousin.

"Yeah, something about finding one another's bodies attractive," Kono nodded.

"Guys, is there anything you want to share with us?" asked Chin, winking at Kono.

"Huh?" asked Steve eloquently. Luckily he was saved from the turn the conversation was taking by his cell ringing, "McGarrett… yes Governor… are you sure? Where? We're on our way," he hung up and turned to his team.

"Steve? What is it?" Danny looked from Steve to the other team members. The Navy SEAL had paled somewhat during his conversation with the Governor.

"We need to get over to Queens Hospital and meet with a member of the CDC."

"What's going on?" asked Chin.

"They've had fifteen reported and confirmed cases of Anthrax."

"_What?!"_ spluttered Danny.

"Danny and I will go over to the hospital and meet with the CDC representative. Chin, Kono I want you to check other hospitals on the Islands as well as the mainland and make sure there have been no other possible cases."

"You got it," Chin nodded as both he and Kono stepped forward to access the computer table to find the necessary information and make calls.

"Let's go Danny," Steve stated before striding out the door, his partner only a step behind him.

-5-0-

Steve and Danny entered the doors of Queens and approached the reception area, "Commander McGarrett, 5-0. I've been asked to meet with a Doctor Lee."

"I'll just page her," the receptionist told him, "Please take a seat," she indicated a row of chairs against the right hand wall.

Danny walked over and sat down. The ride over had been silent as both men had taken in the news of Anthrax being on the island. Both men had dealt with terrorist threats of various degrees during their years in service, but neither of them had actually had any dealings with Anthrax, though they had heard about other cases and knew it was bad… very bad. Steve didn't sit but paced in front of the row of chairs. Danny was about to tell him to sit down because he was making him feel dizzy, when a pretty Asian woman wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck approached.

"Commander McGarrett?"

"Yes," Steve turned to greet her.

"I'm Doctor Hanna Lee, Chief of Special Pathogens at the CDC," she shook his hand.

"This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams," Steve said.

"Detective…"

"Please, call me Danny," he shook her hand, "So…"

"Why don't we take this conversation through to the office I'm using," she suggested. Both men nodded and followed her through the hospital.

Danny took the time to assess the woman. She was about his height with black hair pulled into a bun on the back of her head. She wore a tailored blouse and black pants. Her stride was confident, her manner professional. Doctor Lee was probably a force to be reckoned with in his opinion.

"Please take a seat," she indicated two chairs opposite a desk in a small office, "Can I get you a drink?"

"No, we're good thanks," Steve smiled politely as he took his seat; he just wanted to find out what the hell was going on.

"Doctor Lee…"

"Please, it's Hanna."

"Hanna, I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell…?" typically Danny was the one to voice Steve's thoughts.

"We received a call early this morning from a Doctor here at Queens. He reported that he had fifteen patients; all were suffering with black lesions, fever and coughing up blood. Tests that had been carried out showed that all were suffering from a form of Anthrax."

"Are these people from the same family or friends?"

"There are some family members and also a couple of groups of friends. They had all been to the Japanese Gardens on East West Road yesterday afternoon."

"Are you saying that someone released Anthrax in those gardens?"

"All the information we have points to that, yes. We have a team at the gardens now…"

"How are you managing to keep this quiet?"

"We've advised that there's a methane build up in the sewage system."

"Should we be keeping this quiet?" Danny wanted to know.

"Danny, we can't inform the public, there would be mass panic," Steve told his friend, knowing that the man was likely thinking of his daughter.

"The best option right now is to identify the strain and come up with an effective treatment plan."  
"Whoa, what do you mean identify the strain?" asked Danny.

"The spores have been weaponised and the tests we've run show that it's been tampered with enough to mean the normal antibiotic we would prescribe to treat it are not effective."

"Not effective? You mean these people," Danny waved a hand in the general direction of the ward where the Anthrax cases were being dealt with, "Are going to die."

"There's a good chance, yes," replied Hanna sadly, "We need to focus on stopping any further attacks. These patients were infected approximately sixteen hours ago and already we're starting to see signs of organ failure. This strain is much faster acting than previous Anthrax cases that we've dealt with."

"I need some air," Danny nodded to Hanna and left, closing the door behind him.

"Sorry, he has a daughter on the island…"

"It's fine, I understand. This isn't exactly easy for anybody," Hanna sighed, "Here, your team need to take this as a precaution," she handed over a vial with eight tablets in, "its Cipro and is used as a countermeasure against exposure. It may not work on this strain, but it's better than nothing."

Steve took the lid off and shook out two tablets and tipped them onto her desk, "I don't need it, I've already been vaccinated because of my role with the Navy."

"Very well Commander…"  
"Steve, please, call me Steve."

"Very well, Steve. I will join you at your offices and help you brief your team."

"Thanks Doctor Lee…"

"I think if I'm calling you Steve you can call me Hanna," she told him with a smile.

"Thanks Hanna," Steve returned the smile, "That's not really necessary, I'm sure you're needed here."

"Steve, there are plenty of doctors here; I can help you with your investigation. If I'm needed then the hospital will call me."

"Alright, you know where we're based?" she nodded in response, "Good, we'll see you there shortly." Steve left her office and went in search of his partner. He found him outside by the Camaro pacing back and forth looking at his phone.

"You know you can't tell Rachel, don't you?" he asked gently.

Danny huffed and ran a hand through his hair, "I know, it's just… Grace."

"I know man, I know, but we can't use the knowledge that we have to benefit ourselves, no matter how much we want to. The best thing we can do is find these assholes and stop them before they initiate another attack."

"Yeah," Danny's shoulders slumped. Steve was right, their families shouldn't have an advantage over those that weren't allowed to know, but it still hurt not to be able to protect his daughter.

-5-0-

Steve and Danny arrived back at 5-0 HQ and found both Chin and Kono with their phones attached to their ears. Once they saw the other two men returning they finished their calls and gathered around the computer table.

"No further cases reported at any hospitals on the mainland or anywhere on the islands."

"Well that's at least good news," Danny stated.

"Here, you each need to take these; Doctor Lee gave them to me," he handed out the pills, "Cipro to counteract Anthrax."

"Where's yours? And I thought this strain of Anthrax was resistant…"

"Navy, Danny. I've already been vaccinated. Doctor Lee isn't sure that the Cipro will work but it's all that they have, just take it," ordered Steve. The three nodded and each swallowed the pills without further discussion.

The door opened and Doctor Lee entered. She was quickly introduced to Chin and Kono, then she filled them in on the rest of what she knew.

"As I told Steve and Danny earlier, this spore has been weaponised. It's odourless and invisible. It's attacking the lungs. We lost the first patient just a few minutes ago which means it's capable of killing within eighteen hours of exposure."

"Well whoever did this they know their stuff. Anthrax isn't easy to weaponise," pointed out Steve.

"That should narrow down our suspects," Kono said.

"Not necessarily," Chin responded, "This person could be from anywhere and with the number of flights we have coming in and out…"

"It's unlikely that this person, or people, would be able to get the components they need onto the islands so they would need to get it here," Hanna advised, "You need to check whether anyone at the University or in the science community is currently using Anthrax for research."

The doors to the offices opened again and Steve looked up to be greeted by Lieutenant Catherine Rollins and six other Navy staff.

"Cath?"

"The Governor called…"

"You know about…"

"Yeah, what can we do to help?" she indicated the team she had with her.

"We were just discussing what needed to be done," Steve told her, beckoning her and the group with her forward to join them. Introductions were made and then they continued the discussion, "Cath can you and your team work on finding out the names of the scientists on Oahu that have the necessary skills to weaponise Anthrax, Hanna can you please help them. Chin, Kono, I want the two of you to look into our fifteen victims, find out if there are any connections between them. See if any of them could be potential targets. Danny, you and I will go to the Japanese Gardens and check it out."

-5-0-

Danny stood with Steve as a guy dressed in Hazmat gear approached, though they were gathered at his waist, "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Commander McGarret and Detective Williams of 5-0," Steve replied as he showed his badge.

"Doctor Lee called and said I should expect you, I'm John Faver."

"What have you found?" asked Danny.

"The highest concentration was found over on that hill…"

"Prevailing winds would have carried the spores down into the gardens," stated Steve.

"Are we, er, safe here?"

"Yes, Detective, we've neutralised the spores, it's perfectly safe."

"OK then," Danny wasn't convinced, but he was here to do a job, "Why do you think this place was chosen?"

"I don't know," Steve answered, "I mean it's not the busiest of places, if they wanted mass casualties they could have gone to Ala Moana Beach Park or somewhere else similar."

"Perhaps it's someone with something against the East West Center."

"Possible, let's find the Director and get a list of students and employees."

The two men thanked Faver and headed for the building that housed the administration department. Once there they requested the list. Thankfully a quick call from the Governor to the Director got them what they needed with the minimum of fuss. Danny and Steve sent the information to Chin and Kono before they headed off to pick up lunch for everyone at HQ.

-5-0-

Steve led the way back into the offices which had suddenly become smaller with the now dozen people working in there. Danny took the food and put it on a table before joining the others round the computer table.

"What have you found?"

"There are no connections between all the victims. I mean, some of them were friends because they attend the University of Hawai'i together but they're not connected in any other way. There were a couple of families that were walking through the gardens as well, but that's all. None of the victims were what we'd consider high profile targets. There were seven students; three kids; two stay at home Moms; an accountant from a small local firm and a couple who were on holiday from Switzerland, she's a teacher and he's a construction worker. None of them have any skeletons that would warrant any violence, let alone a biological weapon!" Chin informed them.

"There are only six scientists living on Oahu who have the skills to weaponise the spores. Four of them are working for the Navy and have airtight alibis given that they were all in the lab together with witnesses' yesterday afternoon."

"That doesn't mean they didn't weaponise it and hand it off to someone else," pointed out Danny, "We don't know that this is a one man, or woman, operation."

"That's true and we're currently running a check on all four of them. The other two are a married couple who are on honeymoon and have been for the last four weeks."

"Alright so now we need to check if anyone has come in from elsewhere that has these skills. We need to check airlines and ports passenger lists."

"That's going to be a long list," Kono sighed.

"I know but it has to be done."

"I have a question," Danny was standing with his hands resting on the computer table, a frown marring his features.

"OK," Steve looked at his partner quizzically; it was rare for Danny not to just ask about whatever was on his mind.

"Hanna, I'm not a science…" he paused searching for the right word.

"Geek," suggested Kono helpfully.

"I wasn't going to say that…"

"No but you were thinking it."

"She's right I'm not into science, like some people I could mention." He glanced at Steve who just shrugged, "So if I wanted to make Anthrax and weaponise it, how would I do that?"

"That, Detective, is classified," responded Steve.

"Figures. It's not like I want to make it Steven!" Danny rolled his eyes, "What I'm trying to get at is where would I get weaponised Anthrax."

"You wouldn't, well you could if you went on the black market and paid someone a lot of money, but then you wouldn't 'waste' it by using it on such a small portion of the population," Hanna responded.

"Hang on, you might if you wanted to test some that you'd bought on the black market," Steve said.

"Well this just keeps getting better and better," grumbled Danny, "Fine, I didn't buy it on the black market. Then how?"

"You would need Anthrax spores, which actually aren't that easy to come by. You can find anthrax spores in contaminated dirt and in grazing animals but you have to know how to cultivate them."

"OK, so I want to, for arguments sake, make some weaponised Anthrax. I have the knowledge, but not the spores. How do I get my hands on those spores?" Danny felt like he was pulling teeth.

"If it was for official purposes then you would go through the proper channels at your place of work; if it was for less than legal purposes then it's either buy on the black market or steal them, but if you have the knowledge to weaponise Anthrax then you'd probably know how to cultivate spores."

"What if I didn't have the time to cultivate spores?"

"Again, black market or theft," Hanna told him.

"OK, so has anyone checked to see if any of the legitimate keepers of Anthrax have had any go missing?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"I can make some calls," Cath told him, "Though anyone who was using it for legitimate purposes would have reported any thefts."

"Sometimes good people do stupid things," said Danny in response as he watched Cath grab her phone and go to his office to make some calls.

Everyone else grabbed some of the food that Danny and Steve had got before returning to start going through the lists of passengers that Kono had already requested during their discussion and were already starting to come in.

Cath returned to the central area about thirty minutes later, "Well Danny, it looks like you were right about someone missing Anthrax spores."

"Why the hell didn't we know about that?" growled Steve.

"I spoke to someone at Pacific Health Research where the couple that are on honeymoon work. Apparently nobody had checked the lab since the pair had gone on vacation as they're the only ones that work in it. They just called me back. After doing an inventory they discovered that two vials of spores are missing."

"Shit!" Danny summed up the feelings of everyone in the room, "So, did this couple take the spores and then go on '_vacation_' or did someone else take the vials?"

"No idea. Let's get a team to the lab to check for any forensics," instructed Steve. Kono nodded and picked up her cell to call Charlie Fong.

"Where were the couple going for their honeymoon?" asked Danny.

Chin quickly leafed through his notes, "A remote cabin at Haleakala National Park on Maui."

"What?!" exclaimed Danny, expecting some fancy resort somewhere.

"There are three cabins in the National Park and they're renting one. Its set 6380 feet up at the east end of the valley at the base of a rain forest cliff. You can only get to it by a nine mile hike up one of the trails."

"So when you say remote…"

"Yeah, I mean nobody is going to disturb them."

"Anyone else think that sounds like the perfect place to make weaponised Anthrax?" asked Danny.

"Simple enough to charter a private helicopter to fly you back and forth too," stated Kono, thinking about the fact that the attack had taken place on Oahu.

Cath was already on her phone organising transport for the 5-0 and Navy teams. Everyone went their separate ways to change into more appropriate clothing for a hike of that distance and they met back up in the 5-0 offices twenty minutes later all geared up and ready to go.

-5-0-

"They're going to drop us at the bottom of the trail," Cath informed them over the headsets once they were aboard one of the two helicopters and heading for Maui, "Then they'll land nearby to wait for us to radio for a pick up."

"Why can't they drop us closer to the cabin?" Danny asked.

"If Mr and Mrs Lawrence are making weaponised Anthrax we don't want to tip 'em off Danno. These birds don't run silent."

"Huh, good point," acknowledged Danny.

"Look, Danny, if you're not up to the hike…"

Chin palmed his face when he heard that. Steve should have known better than to challenge Danny's ability to complete the hike. Kono looked over at Chin wondering if he was thinking what she was, how the hell were they going to get away from the explosion that was Danny when they were in a helicopter.

"Excuse me?"

Steve looked like he might have realised what he said and how it would sound, unfortunately it was too late so he tried to lessen the blow. "I'm just worried about your knee…"

"My knee, Steven, is fine. I've hiked to the petroglyphs with you and then run up to the summit of the same damn mountain to call in help for your ass when you fell down a cliff and you're questioning my capability of hiking nine miles? Really?!"

"The trail is rougher than the one to the petroglyphs. I don't want to be responsible for your knee getting injured again!"

"You let me worry about _my_ knee Super SEAL, just don't be blowing any shit up when we get there!" growled Danny, crossing his arms and turning away, effectively ending the conversation.

Steve looked over at Chin and Kono who just shook their heads at him. Even Cath looked a little surprised by what Steve had said.

Shortly after the helicopters dropped as low as they could and the groups were lowered down to the start of the trail as there was nowhere near enough for the helicopters to land that wouldn't add miles to the hike. They waited for the helicopters to disappear before they started out. Steve took the lead with Chin bringing up the rear. Danny happily settled in the middle of the group with Hanna and Kono.

"You really upset him Steve," Cath said as she walked alongside the SEAL.

"Damn it Cath I didn't mean it the way it sounded!" growled Steve.

"You questioned his ability to do his job."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes, Steve, you did. His job isn't just about doing the detective work, it's about apprehending the suspects and sometimes, especially in Hawaii, that means hiking! You didn't once question if Kono or Chin could make the hike," she pointed out.

"Neither of them has a dodgy knee…" he trailed off as he realised what he'd said. Kono had had a knee injury that ended her surfing career but he never questioned her ability, "Shit!"

"Get this done and then apologise to the man," instructed Cath.

"Yeah," Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair and glancing over his shoulder. The four Navy personnel they'd brought with them were directly behind him and he could just see Danny's mop of dirty blonde hair behind them.

When the path divided Steve called a halt and carried on down the right hand path that led to the cabin and went to have a quick scout around to make sure there was nothing unexpected heading their way. Once he was sure he returned to the group.

Cath's cell vibrated at her hip and she quickly answered. Listening she hung up and then cursed, "There's the possibility that they may have rented two cabins. There's another one if you stay on this trail."

"Why would they have done that?"

"One to make the Anthrax in, one to sleep in?" suggested Kono.

"Alright, well Chin and I can go check that out, you and Super SEAL can have this one," stated Danny.

"Take Lieutenant Rodriguez and Ensign Joseph with you," Cath told him.

"Alright," he agreed. He gathered up the three men and started to head off.

"Danno…"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

"That's my middle name, unlike you, yours is definitely 'blow shit up'!" Danny responded, "You be careful too Babe."

Steve nodded, relieved that Danny seemed to have forgiven him his mistake, at least for now.

Cath, Steve, Kono, Hanna and the two remaining Navy officers diverted down the right hand path until they came in sight of a simple wooden cabin.

"Should we be using Hazmat suits," queried Kono, whispering to Steve.

"I'm going to do a quick recon and see if I can get a look at anything through the windows," he whispered back before leaving the group waiting as he did just that. "No evidence of any white powder." He told them on his return, "Doesn't mean there isn't any in there though. How many suits did you bring?"

"Two," Cath told him. Rodriguez has one."

"Alright, I'll gear up and go in…"

"Steve…"

"I'm in charge here Cath."

"Yes Commander," she rolled her eyes at him but helped him suit up anyway. It was only a few minutes later that he re-emerged.

"It's clear. There isn't any Anthrax and the Lawrence's aren't here either," he informed the group as he stripped out of the Hazmat suit and handed it back to Cath.

"OK, Ensign Stein, stay here. The rest of us will head over to the other…" Cath was interrupted by the radio.

"Chin to Steve…"

"Go ahead Chin."

"I need Doctor Lee here and an immediate medevac."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Danny's been exposed."

"Oh God," Kono gasped from behind Steve.

"Is the helicopter carrying a decon tent?" Hanna asked, she received a nod in response, "Get them here and get it set up outside that cabin. I'm assuming there's a clearing like this one around it," Hanna instructed as she set off at a run towards the other cabin.

Cath was on the radio to the pilot as everyone except the Ensign she'd instructed to stay behind set off towards the other cabin as well.

It only took the group ten minutes to run flat out to the other cabin. When they got there Steve started demanding answers as Cath organised the drop from the incoming helicopter and setting up the decontamination tent.

-5-0-

**A/N: ****I have researched Anthrax, but I'm probably going to get arrested from the searches I've done as it is, so some of it will be made up...! The Research place I mentioned does exist but I have no idea if they have Anthrax there, so no offence intended. There are also three cabins at the National Park on Maui, but if you look 'em up they don't have any electric or running water and you can only stay there for 3 consecutive nights... I used artistic licence to change it up! Next chapter up tomorrow. This isn't finished but currently I'm starting on Chapter 3!**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: It's in the first chapter!**

**A/N: I am amazed by the response that this story got for it's first chapter. I am humbled and appreciative of all the alerts and reviews, thank you so much. I'm a little concerned about the method I chose for exposing Danny to a deadly pathogen, but it's fiction so it should be fine, right?! *giggles nervously* Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Danny, Chin, Lt. Rodriguez and Ensign Joseph set off at a jog. They didn't know what Steve would find at the other cabin but they didn't want to risk someone there tipping off someone at the other place.

When they caught sight of the cabin Danny stopped everyone and demanded the Hazmat suit. Chin, the Lieutenant and Ensign all protested but the Detective pulled his 'I'm in charge here' card and everyone reluctantly subsided.

Nodding Danny allowed the two Navy officers to assist him into the suit as he took his gun in his gloved hand. Admittedly it wasn't the easiest of things to search a cabin in but it was better than the alternative. The other advantage was that the suit was meant for someone bigger than him so there was enough room for his vest to go under it. Satisfied that everything was secure he gave instructions that nobody was to enter unless he gave express permission to do so. The other three made their way round the cabin to take up position in case anyone decided to make a run for it.

Danny took a deep, calming breath before slowly opening the door to the cabin. The room he entered was a large sitting area with a kitchen in the back corner. It had simple décor and furnishings but it looked comfortable enough. He crept forward as quietly as the slightly cumbersome suit would allow and found no sign of anybody in the main room. Off to the left were three doors so he started at the one nearest the front of the house. It was a small bathroom with a shower unit, there were toiletries on the shelf but again there was nobody in the room. The next room was a bedroom with a double bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers. The bed had clearly been slept in and there was a suitcase with clothes hanging out of it on the end. Danny made his way to the last room and opened the door, this room was larger than the previous bedroom and was an L shape and ran the whole length of the cabin, parallel to the sitting area and kitchen.

The bottom of the 'L' contained two desks and a mound of paperwork, along the wall was a series of shelves with various substances labelled, none of which Danny recognised, though he was sure Steve probably would have as some were chemicals judging by the way they were labelled. A noise coming from round the corner made Danny pause and he pushed the door closed behind him, quietly placing a small metal bin in front of it which would mean anyone trying to enter would alert him they were doing so.

Slowly and carefully he peered around the corner. He could see someone laying on the floor and further shelves and different machines on either side. The person was lying on their stomach, a small pool of blood under their cheek, but they were still moving, though those movements were short as if they were writhing in agony. Cautiously Danny moved forward, making sure to check any spaces that someone might hide in.

Danny could now see that it was a woman; she matched the picture that Cath had shown him of Sasha Lawrence. It seemed she hadn't noticed him yet, which was good because it gave him a chance to do a quick scan of the room; there was nobody else so he turned his attention back to the woman.

"Mrs Lawrence…" he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. What he didn't expect was the woman to pull a gun out from under her and shoot him! The impact of the bullet hitting his chest knocked him off his feet; he automatically reached out to stop his fall only to pull a tray off the lowest shelf. Danny hit the floor and the tray followed him, unfortunately that tray held a vial of white powder and before he could react, it hit the floor, shattering.

Danny was gasping for breath at this point thanks to the bullet impacting his vest, but he realised immediately and with a mounting feeling of horror that the white powder could very well be Anthrax and his Hazmat suit had been compromised. He could hear voices as the other three men entered the cabin, but Danny knew that he couldn't let them into the room. Ignoring the tightness of his chest and the difficulty he was having breathing he pulled himself up and with the support of the equipment made his way to the door.

"Danny!" shouted Chin, no longer concerned about tipping their hand, the gunshot they'd heard clearly stating that it had already been tipped.

"Chin, get out! Get out of here now!" he gasped out as loud as he could.

"Danny, what the hell…" exclaimed Chin as he tried to push the door to the room that his friend was in.

Leaning against it, using his not inconsiderable weight, Danny prevented his friend from entering the contaminated room, "Chin, I just released a white powder in here, GET. OUT!"

"What about you?"

"The suits," Danny paused for breath, "been compromised. Get the HELL OUT!"

"Alright, but we'll get you out of there as soon as we can," Chin stated before Danny heard his footsteps leaving as he called out to the other two men.

Satisfied that the others were no longer in any immediate danger he turned his attention back to the tightening of his chest, which was just getting worse. Debating the risk of taking off the suit in order to loosen his vest versus keeping the suit on and letting his breathing get worse, possibly resulting in him stopping breathing because his chest was so constricted… Danny decided that the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs was of a higher priority than exposing himself further to Anthrax. He leaned forward and pulled at the zip which started down by his knee; moments later he was pulling the hood off and getting his arms free of the sleeves. Immediately he pulled at the Velcro straps securing his vest and his breathing eased. Probably not as much as he had hoped, which caused him to suspect that it had hit one of his ribs, but it was enough to stop the black spots from encroaching on his vision further. The radio that had been attached to his vest had also been damaged by the gun shot.

Danny got to his feet and once again using whatever was by the walls started to move back towards the corner. Very slowly and carefully he peered round it and found that the woman who had so kindly shot him and possibly caused him to become infected with a deadly pathogen had dropped the gun. Deciding that he didn't want her shooting anyone else, or him _again_, he made his way forward, conscious of the fact that he had now removed his vest, the woman didn't move. He managed to get to the gun and went to bend down to get it out of her reach but discovered that wasn't such a great idea as the pain in his chest increased so instead used his foot to kick it out of reach under one of the machines.

Finally looking at Sasha Lawrence properly he noticed that she was barely breathing and that she had black lesions on her skin. There was blood on her lips as well, that wasn't good. In fact if Danny recalled what Hanna had said she was definitely infected with Anthrax. There was a poetic justice that one of the creators was likely going to die by their own deadly creation. That's when Danny realised that her husband was still out there, she was alive and could perhaps tell him something. With that in mind he lowered himself to the floor and sat by her, resting a hand on her should he shook her.

"Mrs Lawrence… Sasha."

"Who?" she turned her head, fever filled eyes looked at him.

"Detective Danny Williams, 5-0. What happened here? Where's your husband?"

Sasha's eyes filled with tears, "Gone."

"Gone as in dead?"

"No," she was struggling to get her words out, "Taken."

"Your husband was taken by someone? After he weaponised the Anthrax or before?" There was a hint of sarcasm in the tone because honestly, these people had caused others to die.

"You… don't… understand!"

"You're damn right I don't. You've killed people with what you did, do you even get that?!" he wasn't feeling particularly patient given that he could be on that list.

"No!"

"Yes! Fifteen people were infected and six of those are dead already," he shuddered when he remembered the call Hanna had received with the news.

"We didn't want… to."

"What?"

"Karl… me… forced."

"Hang on; you're saying someone forced you to weaponise the Anthrax from your own lab?"

"Yes!" she sighed and coughed, more blood hitting her lips and landing on the floor.

"Who?"

"He called… himself Jeff… no second… name."

"Where's your husband, where's Karl?"

"He took him."

"Where?"

"University…"

"University of Hawaii? Which campus?" There were three that Danny knew of. Manoa was a research university; West O'ahu and Hilo on the Big Island were both Baccalaureate universities with bachelor's and master's degree programs. Danny had a daughter who he hoped would attend university one day so he had looked up details of Hawaii's.

"Yes. Manoa."

"Shit!" Danny felt his chest tighten again, but this time because of fear of what could happen if this Jeff, if he existed, was about to release more Anthrax on an unsuspecting population, "Where?" He was only too aware of the size of that campus.

"Biomedical Building… You… have to… stop him!"

"We will," he found himself reassuring her, though in all honesty he could have just been trying to reassure himself. "What did he look like?"

"Tall… six foot… blonde hair," she coughed again and Danny winced at the sight of more blood, he didn't know when she'd been infected but he didn't think she had long left, "Green eyes…"

"Any distinguishing features? Tattoos? Scars?"

"He has a… scar. Right arm. Big. Shoulder to elbow."

"That's good. Anything else?"

"Accent… not American… maybe Russian."

"OK, that helps," though he wasn't sure how much given the size of the campus and the number of students and staff. Before Danny could ask her any more she was overcome with coughing, "Easy, take it easy. Helps on the way."

"Too late… for me…" Danny knew she was right, what could he say to that. "Not for… you…" she looked over at the broken vial.

That confirmed it; the look on her face told him that the vial did contain Anthrax. "Sasha, there's no cure for this strain…"

"Karl… created one… hid it here."

"A cure? Hid it where?" Danny glanced around but if he'd hidden it then it wasn't like it would have a sign saying 'Cure for deadly strain of Anthrax' on it.

"Don't know… plain sight…" she sighed, closing her eyes.

"Come on Sasha, stay with me," he shook her shoulder but got no response, she was unconscious. He was about to start searching for this elusive cure when he heard the scrape of the bin he'd put in front of the door, "No! Don't come in here…."

-5-0-

Chin filled Steve in on what had happened even as Cath was in the background getting sorted what they would need.

"I've tried to reach him on the radio but he's not responding, but Steve, he was alive and breathing," Chin told him.

"But he told you the suit had been compromised?"

"Yeah," Chin sighed.

"Alright, we need to get in there…"

"You're not going in this time Commander," stated Hanna Lee calmly.

"The hell I'm not!"

"Steve, listen to me, Danny has possibly been infected and he'll need medical assessment…"

"I can do that!"

"I know, but this needs someone with medical training…"

"We don't know if someone has a gun on Danny, there was clearly someone else in the cabin for a gun to be fired," pointed out Chin. He hadn't seen his friend, but if Danny said the suit had been compromised then there was a very good chance it hadn't been his gun that had been fired.

"That means you can't go in Doctor Lee," Steve folded his arms over his chest.

"No, but I can," Lieutenant Rodriguez stated, "I'm both medically qualified and proficient in firearms."

"Steve, Lieutenant Rodriguez has experience with this type of incident," Cath told him as she joined in the conversation. The decontamination tent was being set up in front of the cabin by the other two Navy personnel.

"Fine…" Steve relented, it was reluctantly but he understood the need for someone qualified to enter the cabin.

Lieutenant Rodriguez nodded and went to gear up. Once in the suit he was given instructions by Doctor Lee then he entered the house. He would be in radio contact with the team outside. Chin had told him which room the detective was in and he headed straight for it. When he pushed on the door there was a scraping sound and Danny called out, "No! Don't come in here…"

"It's alright Detective Williams, I have a suit on," the Lieutenant's voice was muffled, "We would have told you over the radio but you didn't respond."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "Er, yeah, I removed the suit and the radio was broken…"  
"What?!" Rodriguez came round the corner cautiously in case there was still a threat from someone else, his gun was in his hand ready to use.

"You can come in, it's clear," Danny told the other man.

Rodriguez placed his gun on the side, unable to holster it for the moment given the Hazmat suit, "Alright Detective Williams…"

"Under the circumstances I think you can call me Danny."

"OK, Danny… I'm Sam, how are you feeling?"

"My chest hurts, but that tends to happen when you take a bullet to the vest Sam," he told him with a wry smile.

"The Anthrax?" Danny pointed to the broken vial that lay nearby. Sam swung the back pack he had with him off his shoulder and pulled out a small box, he took something out and put it on the top of one of the machines and then bent to get a sample of the powder.

"It's definitely Anthrax," Danny told him.

"This test will confirm it," Sam replied, "It's an Anthrax smart test; if it's present it will turn pink." It came as no surprise to either of them when it was confirmed. "Alright we need to get you out of here, decontaminated and to a hospital."

"You need to take Sasha Lawrence," he indicated the woman.

Sam looked over at her and bent down, resting a hand against the upper portion of her chest, "She's gone."

"What? No!" Danny joined him and placed his fingers at her carotid pulse point, hoping to find something, "Damn!" he ran a hand through his hair. If he had cared to notice he would have seen that it was shaking, but right then he realised that he was looking at his own possible fate. Sasha had been in a lot of pain, though she fought through it to tell him what he needed… "I need to speak to Steve…"

"All in good time Danny, we need to get you out of here. You can talk to him why we use the decon shower on you."

"That's something to look forward to," snarked Danny as he allowed Sam to help him to his feet and then lead him out of the door and to the tent.

Ensign Joseph was standing in the tent wearing another suit that had been dropped by one of the two helicopters that was still waiting not too far away, waiting to lift Danny and take him to Kula Hospital.

"Detective Williams, we're going to hose you down in your clothes first…" the Ensign told him indicating a shower head attached to a hose, "The water's going to be cold because we're having to use the water from the cabin.

"Great and you may as well call me Danny."

"I'm James," he smiled behind the protective hood and turned the water on.

Danny shivered as it struck his body but in some ways was glad of it given that he was sure that he was starting to show signs of a fever. He hadn't even been infected an hour! "I need to talk to Steve," he reminded Sam. The Lieutenant nodded and call for him on his radio.

It was probably only a few seconds later that the flap at the front of the tent opened and Steve stepped in to the compartment which was sealed off with a see through panel, he was closely followed by Chin and Kono.

"Danny!"

"I'm fine Steve," he dismissed as he saw the face the SEAL was making.

"You're fine?" Kono spluttered.

"Well relatively speaking, I'm alive at least."

"And you're going to stay that way!" Steve ordered, as if he had a say in the matter.

"Right… anyway…" Danny then told them what Sasha Lawrence had said.

"Shit!"

"That's what I said. So you, Chin and Kono need to get back to Oahu and stop this son of a bitch!" he gestured at the three people standing in front of him.

"We're not leaving you Danny, the Navy and HPD can handle it."

"Steve, I'm in good hands. I'll be going to the hospital soon enough and I'm willing to bet that you won't be allowed anywhere near me anytime soon."

"He's right Steve," Hanna said as she stepped in. She had been listening to the conversation from outside the tent, "Danny, how are you doing?"

"Oh yeah, just peachy," he rolled his eyes.

"Once Danny's at the hospital then I'm going to be getting him stable and then he'll need to rest."

"You?" asked Steve.

"Of course, I'll go with Danny, the staff at Kula don't know anything about this, I have the knowledge and the experience to treat him."

"But not to cure him," mumbled Steve so that Danny couldn't hear.

"No, but I promise I will take very good care of him. The best thing you can do right now is track down this Jeff and stop him before he can release any more Anthrax!"

"Right as nice as it is to stand here chatting with you while these two fine gentleman cause hypothermia with hoses you've got a job to do!" instructed Danny, "And I'm about to get naked, which doesn't require an audience!"

"I don't know Danny, I wouldn't mind watching," Kono leered at him and did her best impression of a dirty man (or woman in her case) wink.

"Get out of here Kalakaua! Chin, take her away."

Steve stepped up to stand right in front of the plastic separating them, "Danny, I don't want to leave you here, by yourself."

"Steve, I'm not alone, Hanna will be with me. Please, I need you to do this… Grace is on Oahu, I can't be there to protect her right now, so I need you to do it!"

The SEAL ran a hand through his hair, "Fine, but just so you know, using Grace? Low blow Danno! Just, stay strong and I'll be back to see you," he turned to leave, not wanting to say goodbye or think about whether he'd make it back in time.

"Steve…"

"Yeah," he turned back around.

"Tell Gracie…"

"No! No, no, no! I'm not telling her anything, you can tell her yourself when you're better!"

"Steve," Danny's tone held a note of pleading that just couldn't be ignored, "Tell Gracie that Danno loves her, no matter what happens."

Steve's shoulders slumped, but he felt like he had no choice, "I'll tell her."

"Thank you."

"See you soon Danno," Steve left, gathering Chin, Kono and Catherine as he went. The sound of a helicopter flying in and hovering near their location told Danny that they were being taken away. Once the sound faded away, he knew they were gone and he sighed with relief.

"Alright Danny, let's get you stripped," Sam said.

"Hanna!" Danny called out. She popped her head back in, "Sasha told me that her husband had created a cure, but he's hidden it somewhere in that cabin…"  
"And I'm only hearing about this now?!"

"I didn't want Steve to know while he was still here, he would have insisted on staying to find it when you and the Navy personnel are quite capable of finding it!" He knew that Cath had radioed for more people to be brought over to clear the two locations.

"Did she say what it looked like?" Hanna sighed.

"She didn't know, said something about hiding it in plain sight."

"OK, while I take you to the hospital Sam and James can search for it," she saw Danny start to object, "My place is with you. I promised Steve I would take good care of you and that's precisely what I'm going to do! I'm also going to radio him to tell him…"  
"No! Please, don't. He needs to concentrate on finding this Jeff guy, not on some faint hope that there's a cure for this."

"You don't think he's going to be worrying about you?"

"Of course he is, that's what Ohana do, but you haven't found the cure yet and right now Steve is angry and an angry Steve is a focused Steve. If you tell him that there may be a cure he's going to spend more time thinking about that than what he needs to do!"

"Alright, you win, for now."

"Thank you."

"Now I'm leaving before you lose any more clothing," she told him with a smile.

Danny hadn't realised that he'd been stripped of his t-shirt until he looked down, "You boys are very efficient!"

Sam laughed, "You were kind of distracted."

"Yeah, I guess I was," he sighed and stripped out of his shoes, socks, trousers and boxers. The sounds of another helicopter coming in were heard, within minutes there were sounds of probably a dozen new voices.

Danny stood in the tent, staring at the opaque walls, shivering under the cold stream of water, his family jewels disappearing into his body looking for warmth. The knowledge that he was dying didn't seem to be enough to distract him from the embarrassment of being hosed down by two Navy men, no matter how professional they were being.

"We're done Danny, here's a towel and there are some scrubs over there," Sam pointed to a dry corner of the tent where a small plastic box sat, "Get dry and put them on, then we'll get you on a chopper out of here."

"Thanks Sam, James."

"Don't thank us yet, you can thank us when we bring that cure to the hospital and we will Danny, we'll find it."

"I don't doubt it," Danny gave the two men a weak smile as they turned to sort out some equipment, giving him some small semblance of privacy.

Five minutes later he was being lifted into a hovering helicopter, Hanna Lee following close behind. A Navy medic who was on board waiting quickly wrapped the shivering detective in thick blankets, something which he was extremely grateful for.

The flight to Kula hospital took a matter of minutes, but by the time the helicopter had landed in a field near the hospital Danny was hooked up to an IV and oxygen. The medic, who had introduced himself as Ensign Adam Kekoa, and Hanna helped him out of the helicopter and he was then placed on a gurney and taken to an ambulance waiting on the road to take him to the hospital just a couple of minutes away.

Instead of being taken to the ER he was wheeled to an isolation room, "We already know what's wrong, we just need to treat the symptoms," explained Hanna as she hooked him up to the hospital's oxygen supply, "The isolation room is to prevent unnecessary personnel from finding out what's happening. We don't want the media getting wind of this."

Adam hooked the IV over a stand and then started connecting Danny to various monitors. The scrub top was cut off revealing the nasty bruise that was forming on his chest, it seemed it had gotten even more visible since he had stripped in the decon tent. Adam poked around the bruise, causing Danny to hiss, "I think he's got at least two cracked, possibly broken, ribs Doctor Lee."

"That complicates things a little, but not much, as long as neither of them punctures a lung."

"Somehow that's not reassuring," grumbled Danny behind the oxygen mask as Adam placed sensors on his chest for a heart monitor and a pulse ox monitor on his left index finger.

"Sorry Danny, let me explain. This strain of Anthrax attacks the pulmonary system, the lungs."

"So a punctured lung would be very bad."

"Yes, so I want you to lay back and rest, let us do the heavy lifting."

"I can do that," Danny told her with a sigh, though the moment he settled back he started to cough. Pain shot through his chest and he pulled his arms over it.

Adam put the head of the bed up so that Danny was reclining rather than lying flat. Once the coughing subsided he removed the oxygen mask and helped his patient drink then replaced the mask. The medic then proceeded to take his vitals.

"Blood pressure low at seventy over forty seven. Temperature one hundred and two."

"Let's increase the flow of fluid and get a dose of Acetaminophen for the temperature," Hanna instructed. All they could do right now was treat the symptoms as they arose.

"Er, Hanna…"

"Yeah Danny?" she turned back to her patient, a man that she was becoming friends with even though they had known each other less than a day.

"Is this what I think it is?" he pointed at a black mark on his right forearm.

Hanna inspected it and nodded, "Yes, it's a lesion."

"Shit! I've really contracted Anthrax, haven't I?" It was like seeing something that could only be related to the actual illness had finally brought it home fully.

"I'm not going to lie Danny, you do have Anthrax, but Sam and James are still looking for that cure. You just have to hang in there."

"How long do I have before it's too late?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Make an educated guess!"

Hanna rubbed her hands over her face, he deserved to know what the timeframe was, but she hated being the one to tell him, "The first patient died just under eighteen hours after exposure, but there are still five people alive of the original fifteen infected and we're at the twenty two hour mark."

"So I have as little as eighteen hours…"

"Or longer Danny. I'm sorry, I just don't know. So much is dependent on the individual's health, age, previous medical history…"

"No, Hanna, I'm sorry, I'm not being fair…" he was prevented from going any further by a coughing fit that lasted longer than the last one. When he'd finished there were a few speckles of blood on the inside of the mask.

-5-0-

**A/N: Chapter 3 isn't even started yet so it will be a couple of days before it's up... I'm really sorry but an ongoing saga/drama with my cat required my attention and tomorrow I have a couple of appointments to attend. As soon as it's written I will post it though, I promise!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Hasn't changed since chapter 1.**

**A/N:** Alright, well, this chapter has been like pulling teeth without any pain relief! Any angst was in the author's efforts to write the darn thing rather than the chapter! I want to thank you all for reading, the reviews and alerts.

Specifically for this chapter... a belated Happy Birthday to Synbou. A huge thanks to Irene Claire for reading this chapter and calming my ever present nerves over it! Finally thank you to the cheer leading squad that is the DWOCD. You all rock! I will try not to leave it a week before the next update!

Chapter 3

Steve, Chin, Kono and Cath sat silently in the helicopter as it headed back to Oahu. For the three 5-0 team members leaving Danny behind was just excruciating, but they all knew they had a job to do and Danny had been right, they needed to get their hands on this 'Jeff' and prevent him from spreading any more Anthrax. Cath was also finding it hard, she liked Danny; thought he was a good, solid guy and she considered him a friend as well.

They landed at the Navy base in Pearl and were immediately ushered to a vehicle so they could return to the 5-0 offices to meet with the two Navy personnel that had been left to continue working the case. Cath had them doing a facial recognition search on all cameras that they could access around the University of Hawai'i, searching for someone that fit the description Sasha Lawrence had provided as well as for Karl Lawrence; a BOLO had also been issued.

"Anything?" demanded Steve as soon as he stepped into the main room of the 5-0 offices.

"Nothing yet, Sir," replied Ensign Chris Corbett.

Kono moved to the computer table and brought up a map of the Manoa Campus and then located the Biomedical Sciences building, "There aren't many choices for where the Anthrax could be released around where Sasha Lawrence said they were heading," she put the view up on the large middle plasma for everyone to see.

"Maybe from the top of one of the buildings?" suggested Corbett.

"It's possible, but that would make the attack more wide spread because the spores would carry further and be less controlled," pointed out Chin.

"It's got to be Hala Terrace," stated Kono, "If this Jeff really does want to target a person specifically from the Biomedical Sciences department or the University, then that's the only open ground."

The other Navy officer in the room, Lieutenant Jennifer Morgan, stepped away as her cell rang. Everyone else carried on with their discussion about the possibility of Hala Terrace being the target.

"The conditions would have to be right for him to release it," pointed out Steve.

"I had a call from Lieutenant Rodriguez while you were still in the air," Chris Corbett told them, "He said they found several aerosols in the lab at the cabin and he believes that's how the Anthrax is being released."

"So he could target specific individuals?" asked Kono.

"It's possible. The aerosols were all a water spritzer thing," the Ensign looked a little uncomfortable because he wasn't able to explain properly.

"Oh, you mean the ones tourists use sometimes to spray water on their faces to cool down?"

"Yes," Chris smiled at her gratefully, "They give a very fine mist."

"We really need to know who this guy is!" growled Steve in frustration, watching the facial recognition software scroll through on another plasma.

"I think I can help you with that Sir," Lieutenant Morgan re-joined the group, "That was the Director of administration at the University; I called him when we got your description of this Jeff. The Director spoke to the head of the Biomedical department and he recognised the description. Our man is thirty year old Lev Petrov. He was kicked out of the Clinical Research program following a disagreement with another student which resulted in Petrov getting violent."

"What was the student's name?" asked Chin.

"Jeremy Lipvak," Jen told him, "He is still with the Clinical Research program. The Director told me that Jeremy is an outstanding student and it wasn't the first time he and Petrov had disagreed on something."

"What was the argument about?"

"Apparently the pair had a history. Lipvak was Petrov's best friend when they started the Master's program, however sometime during their first year they both fell for the same woman, Melissa Schubert. Melissa chose Lipvak, Petrov wasn't happy about it."

"Where have I heard the name Schubert before?" mumbled Kono as she went about looking it up.

"It's like a soap opera," grumbled Cath.

"I knew I recognised Melissa Schubert's name! She was one of the victims from the Japanese Gardens!" Kono told the group.

"Did HPD interview Lipvak?" Steve suddenly perked up.

"Yes," Kono looked at the information that HPD had provided from their interviews of the friends and families of the victims, "Oh… Lipvak was supposed to be at the Japanese Gardens as well, but he got delayed at the University talking to one of the Professors, that was confirmed with the Professor in question."

"Let's find out where Lipvak is now!" ordered Steve. Phones were grabbed and calls were made to try to locate Jeremy Lipvak.

"Thank you Sir," Jen Morgan said as she hung up, "Got him! He's at the Biomedical Sciences building meeting with a Professor. The administration Director said that he's trying to rearrange his classes to allow him to take some time off because of what's happened to Melissa."

"Morgan, Corbett, stay here and keep running the facial recognition; if you spot either Karl Lawrence or Lev Petrov I want to know immediately. The rest of you, gear up and let's go!" ordered Steve, moving to put on his TAC vest and put in his ear piece as he jogged out of the offices before anyone could do anything other than follow his orders.

-5-0-

Steve and Catherine piled into the Camaro while Kono and Chin went to his SUV. The Camaro may be Danny's car but it was faster than the truck and more manoeuvrable, at this point Steve was pretty sure that Danny wouldn't mind, although he was also sure that his best friend would be hanging on to the door yelling at him if he were in the car as he dodged around the late afternoon traffic.

The voice of Jen Morgan came through on the radios that the four were now hooked up to, _"Commander McGarrett, the Director called Lipvak's Professor and asked him to keep Lipvak in the building, but he'd just left."_

"Damn it!" Steve hit the steering wheel in frustration.

"_He was going to meet with some friends on Hala Terrace and they were then all going to go to Queens to see Melissa, she's not doing so well."_

Steve increased the pressure on the gas pedal, glancing in the rear view every few seconds to make sure Chin was still behind him. As they neared Hala Terrace Steve killed the lights and sirens, Chin following suit. If Petrov was in the area there was no way they wanted to warn him they were coming as there was no telling what he'd do. The fact that he was willing to risk infecting other people in order to get to Lipvak spoke to a very unstable person.

"Chin, go round via the tennis courts," instructed Steve.

"_Got it!"_

Steve watched Chin take a turn that would get him to the other side of Hala Terrace. Just a few minutes later he pulled the Camaro into the parking lot in front of the Biomedical Sciences building, both Cath and Steve were out of the car within seconds of it stopping.

"Keep your eyes open," Steve told everyone, "Jen, any sign of our targets?"

"_Not yet Commander."_

Steve rolled his eyes, he'd told the Lieutenant to call him Steve on several occasions but she kept slipping back to using his rank.

"_Steve, we've spotted Lipvak, he's walking towards us. We're just by Atherton Hall," _Kono told Steve.

All four pairs of eyes scanned the area desperately searching for either Lawrence or Petrov. Hala Terrace was a good meeting point for students and staff alike. There was a dining hall as well as tennis courts; basketball courts and a swimming pool. At this time of day when the school day was almost done it was fairly busy with large groups congregating which wasn't making their jobs any easier.

"We need more people on the ground," stated Cath.

"No, too many people could spook Petrov," Steve responded, eyes narrowed against the bright Hawaiian sunshine as he searched the area.

"_Steve, someone's approaching Lipvak… Damn, it's Lawrence!"_

At that moment Steve could finally see Lipvak, he was in the centre of the open green area walking towards a group of maybe a dozen other students, but to his right a man, Karl Lawrence, had pushed upright from where he was leaning against a tree and started walking towards Lipvak with what was easily spotted by the four friends as a forced casualness.

"Move in!" ordered Steve as he saw that Lawrence had something in his hand that looked like an aerosol. All four ran into the area, "Karl Lawrence, 5-0, stop where you are, put your hands in the air!" barked the SEAL.

Lipvak looked around in confusion as suddenly he was in the midst of a group of people, all be it a small group, waving guns around. The group looked like they meant business but they weren't addressing him. That's when he looked to his right and saw that there was a man standing maybe five foot from him with an aerosol pointing in his direction.

"Jeremy," Chin spoke calmly to the clearly spooked student, "I want you to walk towards me, nice and slowly.

"No!" cried Karl Lawrence, "No, I have to do this, he'll kill Sasha!"

Steve took a deep breath. He could shoot this guy but the chances are he would release at least some of the Anthrax, even if the bullet was immediately fatal since his fingers would spasm automatically but if what Sasha Lawrence had said to Danny was true he hadn't wanted to weaponise the Anthrax, he had been forced to do it. There was the possibility that he knew where Petrov was and that information was something they desperately needed. Right then the SEAL would have given anything for his chatty partner to be standing beside him. He would have known what to say; after all he was the talker while Steve was a man of action.

"Karl, I'm Commander Steve McGarrett, you need to let Jeremy go…"

"No!"

"Look, Karl, I know you don't want to do this."

"I have no choice," tears were now streaming down the man's face, his hands shaking as he held the aerosol out in front of him.

"Yes you do Karl," Steve told him, using what he hoped was a calming voice, "Put the aerosol down and give yourself up."

"He'll kill Sasha, he'll kill my wife!"

Steve knew that he was taking a risk with the next words that came out of his mouth, "Karl, we found Sasha in a cabin at Haleakala National Park…"

"He kept us in separate cabins until yesterday afternoon," Karl's eyes took on a distant look and just for a moment Steve debated rushing him, but decided against it, the situation was much too volatile, "He brought her to the cabin I was in yesterday afternoon to prove that she was still alive and then took her to another room. Then he forced me out of the cabin and knocked me out," the distraught man touched his temple where a bruise had formed, "When I came round we were on a helicopter and Sasha wasn't with us."

"What happened then?" Steve asked softly, trying to keep the man's focus away from Lipvak and the fact that Chin and Kono were moving slowly forward.

"He told me that if I ever wanted to see Sasha alive again then I would walk into the Japanese Gardens and use the Anthrax. He even pointed out the group that he wanted me to use it on…"

"Where is Petrov?"

"Who?"

"Jeff," Steve corrected himself, "Where is Jeff?"

"I don't know. He said he'd be nearby, watching… if I don't do this he'll kill Sasha!" The arm with the aerosol which had started to drop came back up and Karl's eyes refocused.

Chin and Kono had managed to move so that they were behind Karl without him noticing. The man was clearly so focused on Steve and Lipvak that anybody else just wasn't on his radar. A slight nod of Steve's head and the pair were moving. Kono grabbed the arm with the aerosol and snapped the man's wrist before he could even think about pushing down to release the Anthrax. Chin acted at that same moment and forced the man to the ground as a yell of agony was ripped from his throat. The aerosol fell to the ground and was immediately secured by Cath into a Hazmat bag that had been provided to each of them.

Steve didn't even have a moment to be relieved that he hadn't yet had to tell Karl his wife was dead; he was too busy searching the crowd that had formed to watch the drama unfold. His keen eyes spotted the man he was looking for as he tried to vanish into the throng of people.

"Chin, with me!" he barked as he took off running after the fleeing man.

Kono and Cath took over securing Karl Lawrence, back up in the form of Navy personnel already on their way thanks to Lieutenant Morgan.

Chin followed hot on Steve's heels as the SEAL ran back towards the Biomedical Science building. Petrov made it to the parking lot before them and an unfortunate student who had just been pulling out of a parking space found themselves wrenched out of their car and unceremoniously dumped onto the asphalt as Petrov slid behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta and took off out of the parking lot like the devil himself was after him. Which to be fair Steve wasn't far off when he was in the frame of mind that he currently was.

Steve wrenched open the door of the Camaro and slid behind the wheel, barely giving Chin the chance to get in before he was following the Fiesta out of the lot and onto the streets of Honolulu, lights and sirens going. Chin was on the radio reporting their location and advising of the licence plate of the vehicle they were chasing the moment he could get a good look at the car in front of them.

It didn't take long before they were on the H1 Lunalilo Freeway heading towards Wailupe. Both cars were diving in and out of traffic at speeds that would have had Danny hyperventilating as he ranted at his partner. Chin, much more stoic and less verbose simply clung to the door and silently prayed that nobody got hurt during this breakneck speed chase.

"_Steve…?"_

"Go ahead Cath," the words came out a little muffled as Steve grit his teeth as he threw the Camaro round yet another commuter vehicle that wasn't quick enough to get out of his way.

"_Petrov has two other aerosols of Anthrax on him."_

"Copy that," Steve replied. That meant he needed to stop this chase before Petrov could get out of the car and expose more unsuspecting civilians.

"We've just go on to the Kalanianaole Highway," Chin supplied.

"We need to get that car stopped!" growled Steve as the car in front narrowly missed crashing into a bus full of children.

"_There's a helicopter on route from Pearl."_

"I need to know what traffic is like up ahead Cath."

"_I'll get back to you." _A few minutes later Cath's voice came over the radio again. _"Steve, the crew of the Seahawk helicopter are now patched in."_

"Thanks Cath."

"_Commander McGarrett, this is Lieutenant Commander Ralph, call sign Razor."_

"Thanks for the assist Razor, can you get ahead of us on Kalanianaole Highway and let me know what the traffic situation is? I need to find a way to bring this to an end, safely," Steve gritted his teeth as a truck, the driver oblivious of the lights and sirens of the Camaro, pulled out into the lane he was in and he had to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid a collision.

"_Copy that Commander," _replied Commander Jon 'Razor' Ralph.

"Danny will kill you if you crash this car brah!" Chin told Steve, if asked he would never admit that he had squeaked a little at another near miss.

"I don't intend to crash it Chin!" growled Steve once again pulling closer to the fleeing Fiesta.

"_Commander, the traffic ahead isn't bad, but if you want to bring this to a close you may need to use a more aggressive method."_

Chin groaned. The SEAL didn't need encouraging when it came to aggressive moves! "Please, don't tell him that!" He was sure that he heard both Cath and Kono chuckling over the radio.

"I'm open to suggestions!" Steve told them as he concentrated on getting through the traffic. Honestly he'd be quite happy to shoot the guys tires out, but it was too dangerous when there were other vehicles that could be caught up in the resulting aftermath.

"_I can use the chopper to slow him down," _suggested the pilot.

"Why don't we just use tire shredders instead of using an expensive piece of Navy equipment!" stated Chin, pragmatic as always.

"_You're a spoil sport Cuz! HPD could slow down the traffic coming up behind you,"_ Kono told him, _"They're just waiting along the Highway for our signal to get involved."_

"Alright, get HPD to join us and once they get level with us tell them to slow the other traffic down. Get an HPD unit to set up with tire shredders near Kanewai fishpond," ordered Steve.

"_Commander HPD units are on their way and should be ready in a few minutes," _Jen told him as she co-ordinated Navy, 5-0 and HPD resources.

"_Be careful Boss!"_ Kono wished she was out there with them but she had stayed with Cath and Karl Lawrence as he was receiving treatment from EMTs. They would then be taking him to Queens for an x-ray to determine the level of damage inflicted. The two women had informed him, as gently as they could, of the death of his wife.

It was a matter of minutes before HPD cars joined them and they cut off the cars around the Camaro and Fiesta until they had stopped them. That left only the cars still ahead of them to avoid. With the assistance of other HPD units they boxed the Fiesta in, slowing it down sufficiently to allow the traffic ahead to get further away. Petrov clearly didn't like that as he rammed two of the squad cars forcing them to drop back.

"Get ready to deploy the tire shredders!" ordered Chin, "You should have visual in a couple of minutes.

"_Copy that Chin," _responded Duke Lukela. He had taken responsibility for ensuring the spiked strips were ready.

The strips were deployed from both sides of the Highway to ensure that no matter which of the three lanes the car was in it would drive over at least one of them. Steve dropped back slightly to allow enough time for the Fiesta to drive over them and then the officers to draw them back so the pursuing cars could keep going.

Once over the spikes the tires immediately started to deflate. There was no massive crash because the strips were used purposely to avoid such a scenario. The punctures allowed a controlled deflation of the tires so that the driver didn't lose control of the vehicle. That, however, didn't seem to deter Petrov who just carried on going, though at a slower pace. The tires started to come apart and the Fiesta was travelling on metal rims, sparks flying as the rims dug into the asphalt.

Within five minutes the car was travelling so slowly Steve could probably have run beside it and kept up but still Petrov kept going. The SEAL was reluctant to stop the vehicle because there were residences on either side of the Highway and if he really did have more aerosols with Anthrax he didn't want to risk the man releasing any.

The problem was solved by Commander 'Razor' when, thanks to the efforts of the HPD, the road cleared enough and he was able to land the large helicopter at a junction on the Highway. Once the skids touched the ground two men got out of the chopper dressed in Hazmat gear and carrying weapons, yelling at Petrov to come out of the vehicle with his hands up.

Petrov was now surrounded by armed men and women with nowhere to go. His options were slim. He could either commit suicide by cop, or Navy; he could surrender or he could attempt to release the Anthrax and infect more of the population.

Lev Petrov wasn't a stupid man, though his actions would imply otherwise. He had been approached by an acquaintance and roped in to something that was way beyond him. He had been told by this man, a Professor at the University, that the country was ill prepared for an attack on American soil of a biological nature. Petrov had been heard amongst his peers to be of the same opinion. With this in mind the Professor wanted to show the Government of Hawaii what could happen if just a small amount of a pathogen made its way into the public domain. The two men didn't have the necessary skills and before Lev knew it he was kidnapping two scientists and stealing Anthrax. It was only a small leap from that to using the demonstration to kill his onetime friend for stealing the woman he loved out from under him.

The Professor had tried to stop him from getting the two scientists to make more but when he failed to get Lipvak in his first foray he was determined that he should suffer and the two men got into a heated argument which quickly led to Lipvak strangling the Professor. Driven by an irrational anger and hatred he returned to the cabins where the two newly married scientists had been chained up, grabbed Karl Lawrence and put him in the car while he placed Sasha in the lab and released some of the Anthrax, thinking she would be dead before anyone found her.

Karl Lawrence would also have to end up a casualty but once Lipvak was dead and Lawrence taken care of, Lev would leave the island, somewhere in his mind he would find a buyer for the two remaining aerosols and he would have enough money to live off for the rest of his life wherever he chose. Naturally he hadn't covered every angle; such as 5-0 and the Navy joining forces when the Anthrax outbreak was discovered.

No, Lev Petrov wasn't stupid, but he _was_ driven. Hate was a strong motivator and along with his agreement on the lack of preparedness it was what tipped Lev from an everyday civilian to a terrorist.

Lev Petrov wasn't given the chance to make a decision, with a simple order from an Admiral over the radio the two men in Hazmat suits each shot one bullet from their gun, they entered the windscreen of the Fiesta and one found its mark centre mass, the other in Petrov's forehead. Not a stupid man maybe but it was a damned stupid decision.

-5-0-

Steve and Chin stood silently by as they watched the Navy Hazmat team clear the area. The remaining aerosols of Anthrax were gathered and secured. Karl Lawrence had already confirmed that there were only another two and that he hadn't made any more.

He had also shared the details that he knew of the Professor with Kono and Cath, once he had calmed down sufficiently following the news of his wife's death. It hadn't taken long to identify him from the description. An HPD unit had been sent to the Professor's residence and they had found his body. The case really was over.

There was no sense of satisfaction though as the two 5-0 men watched silently they only wanted to return to Maui to be by their friend's side.

"_Steve?" _Kono's voice cut through the silence of the radio.

The SEAL could hear a tinge of something currently unidentifiable in her voice, "Go ahead Kono."

"_I just spoke to Hanna…"_

Steve's heart leapt into his throat and he glanced at Chin, "Is Danny…?" He didn't want to voice his fears; surely it was too soon, the first person hadn't died until around eighteen hours following exposure.

"_He's holding his own Steve," _Cath was quick to reassure.

"_Hanna is having him flown back to Oahu. They'll be landing at Queens within the hour," _Kono told him.

"What? Cuz, just tell us what's going on!" demanded Chin.

"_Karl Lawrence created a cure; they found it in the cabin, it's being flown back to Oahu…"_

"There's a cure? So Danny's going to be OK?" Steve clung to that hope.

"_Danny is refusing to take it…"_

"What the hell?!"

"_There's not enough for the five surviving victims and Danny…"_

Steve ran a hand through his hair in frustration that he wasn't on Maui to talk some sense into his partner, "Let me guess, he insists that the original victims get it before him," he was going to kick his self-sacrificing partner's ass when he got hold of him.

"_Got it in one Boss," _sighed Kono.

"_Karl Lawrence has said he can show the Navy scientists how to synthesize more of the cure Steve. That's why Hanna is flying Danny back," _Cath reassured him again, _"It's just as quick to fly Danny to the source of the cure as it is to fly Karl Lawrence out to Maui. In fact two of our scientists have already arrived at Queens to help which means they're already working on it while Danny is flown here. Queens are also better equipped."_

"I want Doctor Jensen brought in on Danny's case," demanded Steve.

"_Steve, we can't. It's national security!"_

"Cath, I don't care. Danny trusts Henry, so do I…"

"Steve, I'm sure Hanna is perfectly capable of looking after Danny, plus there is another doctor from the CDC already at Queens looking after the five other victims." Chin tried to soothe.

"I'm don't doubt that, but that's six critically ill patients between two doctors, another doctor can be read in to the situation. I'll vouch for him."

"_I'll see what I can do,"_ agreed Cath, somewhat reluctantly, knowing that Steve wasn't going to change his mind on this.

"We'll see you at Queens in the next thirty minutes," Steve told the women as he turned to ensure that everything at the scene was taken care of. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could get to the hospital and be by his partner's side.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1.**

**A/N: Thank you for all the alerts, reviews and just for reading. I will put a caveat on this chapter... I am not a medical professional or a scientist. I especially used artistic licence when it came to the 'cure' so please don't beat me up over it! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Lieutenant Sam Rodriguez and Ensign James Joseph were systematically tearing the cabin apart looking for the cure that Sasha Lawrence had claimed her husband had created. The words 'in plain sight' ringing through their minds as they searched.

"Sam!" James called to his friend from the bathroom. The other man may be his superior but they had been working together for five years and had become firm friends.

"What is it James?" asked Sam as he stood in the doorway to the small bathroom.

"I think I've got it," he held up a deodorant aerosol and showed his friend the same aerosol set up as they'd been finding in the room used as a lab. The aerosols had been modified so that they had a false bottom. Carefully he opened it to reveal a vial that held a clear liquid.

"Thank God! Well done James, let's get the helo back here and get this to Doctor Lee…"

The two men dashed out of the cabin leaving the rest of the additional Navy personnel to finish decontaminating the site.

Within five minutes the pair were on board the helicopter heading for Kula Hospital. They landed and made a beeline straight for the isolation area where Danny was being treated.

"Doctor Lee…" Sam tapped gently on the sliding glass door to the room where Hanna was standing by Danny's bed side.

Turning Hanna saw the two Navy men looking at her eagerly and holding up a vial of clear liquid. She said something to Danny and then left the room, pulling off her disposable gown, mask and gloves. The precautions weren't for her sake; Anthrax wasn't contagious once infected as long as the correct precautions were taken, but for Danny's. Any additional infection could cause major complications with his pulmonary system already compromised.

"Sam, James…"

"It's the cure Doctor Lee," James smiled at her.

"I'll tell Danny. Get hold of Lieutenant Rollins and let her know what you have. We'll need people to work on synthesising more of it."

"Yes ma'am," Sam quickly walked off to put in the call to Cath as James watched Hanna Lee put on another gown, mask and gloves combo and re-enter the room.

-5-0-

Hanna automatically looked at the monitors that were connected to Danny. His fever was climbing and currently sat at one hundred and three degrees. His blood pressure had come up thanks to the fluids but it still wasn't where it needed to be. They had removed the oxygen mask for now and replaced it with a nasal cannula once his oxygen sats climbed back up but Hanna knew it was only a matter of time before he would need the mask again.

"How are you doing Danny?" she asked him as she looked from the machines to her patient.

"About the same as when you asked me five minutes ago," he smiled at her, though it didn't quite have the cheeky sparkle that it had when she first started working with 5-0. Danny glanced over her shoulder and saw James still standing there, "What did Sam and James want? Did they find it?"

"Yeah, Danny, they did," she gave him her own smile, hers was one of relief.

"Is there enough for the surviving victims on Oahu?" Danny wanted to know. He coughed and put a hand to his chest as it rattled through him.

The medic that had come in on the helicopter hadn't left his side since he had been brought to the hospital and Adam wiped away the spittle that was tinged with red and then helped Danny take a sip of water.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks Adam. Hanna?"

The Doctor exchanged looks with the medic, before turning her full attention to Danny, "No."

"Then get it on a helicopter and treat those that were infected first," Danny closed his eyes as if that was the end of the conversation.

Hanna wasn't that easily dismissed though, "Danny, they're much further along in the illness than you. The cure might not even work for them."

"But you don't know that, do you?"

"No, you're right, I don't, but Danny, the cure is here, you're here. We'll get Navy scientists working on synthesising more…"

"Great but that takes time, those people don't have it! We know that I'm only in the early stages and as much as this sucks," he weakly waved a hand around to encompass the room, the machines and his own body, "I've got some time."

"Danny…" Hanna paused; she hadn't wanted to tell him that he may not have as much time as he thought.

"What?" the Detective looked at her suspiciously, "What haven't you told me?"

"The other victims were infected via a fine mist you were exposed to a full vial of the powder, we don't know if you received a higher dose than the others."

"Well…" Danny didn't really know what to say to that. He might not have the fifteen hours left before potential death that he thought. That would be the least amount of time he had left based on the other victims progression through the illness, now he was being told that they didn't know. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the oxygen entering his system while he could. The deep breath pulled at his chest dragging another painful coughing episode out of him. Once again Adam was there to wipe away the saliva stained with blood and give him a drink to help take away the vile metallic taste, "Thanks."

"Danny…"

"No, Hanna. Get the cure to Oahu, use it to treat the sickest. I can wait," Danny glanced at her before closing his eyes again. Yes he had Grace to think about, but the other victims had families too. It would be wrong for him to accept the cure just because he happened to be on the same Island as it.

"If that's what you want Danny," Hanna capitulated, seeing that he wasn't going to change his mind.

"It is," he told her firmly.

"OK. I'll get on to the Navy and get a helicopter organised," Hanna slowly turned and left the room to join James Joseph outside, once again removing her hospital garb.

Sam re-joined the pair, immediately taking in Hanna's countenance, "What's wrong?"

"Danny is refusing to take the cure. He insists that we fly it all back to Oahu and use it on the sickest patients there."

"I can't say I'm surprised," Sam told her, "I haven't known Danny more than a few hours but I got the impression that he would put others needs before his own."

"There's probably enough there," she indicated the vial that James was still holding on to with extreme care, "to cure one person, but we could start three people with an initial dose that would help until more can be made, but it could take the scientists' days to recreate it."

"Well I have some good news on that front," Sam allowed a small smile despite the dire circumstances, "Cath, that is Lieutenant Rollins," he corrected himself, but Hanna waved it off, she didn't care if these people called each other by first name, rank or last name, "She said they have Karl Lawrence in custody. They told him what happened with his wife and that there were others still alive after being infected and he's going to work with the Navy scientists to synthesise more of the cure. They won't be starting from scratch."

"Oh thank God!" Hanna leaned back against the glass separating her from Danny. She only took a moment to take in the news before she was back standing upright, "Can you arrange a helicopter to take us back to Oahu? If the cure is going then Danny should go too."

"Cath has already requested one and it should be landing in the field in about ten minutes."

"Good. I'll go and arrange an ambulance…"

"Let me do that," James told her, "If anyone has an issue with my request I'll tell them to come and talk to you. That gives you time to get Danny ready for transport."

"OK," she nodded and once again donned the necessary garments to return to Danny's room, "Danny, we're taking you back to Oahu!"

"Huh?" he pried his eyes open and looked at Hanna questioningly.

"Karl Lawrence has been detained and has agreed to work with Navy scientists on making more of the cure. You need to be where he is so we're flying you back."

"OK," if Hanna was expecting more enthusiasm she wasn't going to get it, "What about the other guy, Jeff?"

"Sorry I don't know, but you'll be at Queens within the hour and then you can ask your team yourself," Hanna turned to Adam. "Help me get him ready for transport."

The two medical professionals quickly disconnected Danny from the hospital machines and reconnected to portable versions. A protective mask was placed over the lower half of Danny's face in an effort to prevent him getting any infections during transport. It wasn't long and there was a gurney being pushed into the room and Danny was moved to it, through the hospital, into an ambulance which drove them to meet with the helicopter.

Ensign Adam Kekoa; Ensign James Joseph and Lieutenant Sam Rodriguez joined Danny and Doctor Hanna Lee on their return flight to Oahu. Adam wanted to continue to help with any treatment Danny required, the patient was comfortable with him now and that was a good enough reason for him to fly from Maui to Oahu. James and Sam couldn't do any more on Maui, they were based on Oahu and had received the go ahead to return, they also wanted to be nearby if the 5-0 team needed any further assistance.

Hanna had administered a small dose of sedative to help Danny relax during the flight, it was enough that he dozed until the helicopter landed at Queens.

-5-0-

Steve, Chin, Kono and Cath all stood in a small waiting area that served the small isolation ward where Danny would be brought once the helicopter landed. They were all anxious to see how he was doing. When Sam had called Cath he hadn't really seen Danny up close so all he could tell them was that the New Jersey native seemed to be holding his own, whatever that meant.

A flurry of activity down the hall brought the group's attention back to the corridor. The familiar form of Doctor Henry Jensen appeared leading a gurney and indicating a room that the medical team then disappeared into. Steve went to move but was stopped.

"Let them get him settled first," Cath told him, leaving her hand resting gently on his arm.

"I need to see him Cath."

"I know you do Steve but let the medical team do their job."

Sam and James strode down the corridor towards them, "Hey, Hanna said if you give them ten minutes she'll come and get you when you can see Danny," Sam told them.

"Thanks," Steve nodded but didn't say anymore.

"Do you have the cure?" asked Cath.

"We handed it over to the other Doctor that's here from the CDC, he met us on the roof," James replied, "They've identified the three patients that are in the most need and will administer the first dose immediately."

"Any idea how long it'll take Lawrence to synthesise more?" asked Sam.

"Around twelve hours," Cath replied.

"Can the other patient's survive that long?"

"The other two patients from the first attack don't seem to have been affected as badly, at least that's what Doctor Jensen told us after he'd been told what had happened and had seen all the patients. He thought it was possible that they received a smaller dose of the Anthrax and was hopeful that they would be able to last until the cure could be administered," Kono told the Lieutenant.

Any further conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Hanna, "You can see him now," she told them as she led them back to the room. She directed them all to put on gowns, masks and gloves before allowing the three 5-0 team members and Cath into the room.

Doctor Henry Jensen looked up from where he was leaning against the bed talking to Danny, a man none of them recognised was on the other side, "Ah, Steve, Chin, Kono, Cath…" he greeted the group of friends.

"Hi Henry, how's he doing?" asked Steve as he approached.

"About as well as can be expected," replied Henry. He noticed when Steve glanced at the man standing on the other side of the bed, "This is Ensign Adam Kekoa, he's a medic with the Navy and has insisted on remaining with Danny," introductions were quickly made and then the medic and Henry stepped over nearer to the door to give the group the illusion of privacy. Given Danny's current condition they weren't prepared to leave him with no medical personnel in the room.

Danny glanced at his four friends as they approached the bed, Steve and Cath on one side, Chin and Kono on the other.

"Hi," he greeted them, blinking tiredly. The sedative may have only been light but he was still trying to shake off the remnants.

"Don't you 'hi' me Daniel!" exclaimed Steve, "You refused to take the cure!"

Danny rolled his eyes, "I wasn't the one with the greatest need Steven!"

"Hey!" Chin cut in before they could get going on one of their usual bickering sessions, he didn't think Danny was up to that right now, "Now, is _not_ the time for this guys!"

"Chin's right," Kono told them, glancing over to Henry who had taken a step forward to prevent the conversation deteriorating any further, "If you carry on with this conversation I think you might get kicked out," she nodded her head pointedly in Henry's direction.

Steve glanced over at the doctor and had the grace to look a little sheepish, "Sorry… It's just…"

Cath laid a hand on his arm, "How are you feeling Danny?"

"Tired," he replied.

Kono watched a rivulet of sweat roll down his forehead and moved to the bowl on the cabinet next to the bed. She took out the washcloth and wrung out the excess water before running it over Danny's face and neck, "Then rest," she told him, trying to smile reassuringly, but it was a little tremulous.

Danny reached up and took one of her hands, "It's OK babe," he told her as he squeezed it. That was all he got a chance to say before he was overtaken by a coughing fit that made his eyes water.

Adam hurried back to the bed and smoothly moved his patient's friends out of the way as he helped Danny through it, "Easy, come on, try to relax."

"Easy… for you… to say," grumbled Danny, one hand on his chest, the other flexing in the sheet covering him, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. By the time it was over Danny was wrung out and barely managed to take a sip of the water offered before falling into a light sleep.

Henry checked the monitors, "Adam, let's put an oxygen mask on him for now," he wasn't happy with Danny's oxygen sats.

The medic nodded and wiped the blood around Danny's lips away using the same washcloth Kono had used, then he rinsed it and wiped the man's face again before exchanging the nasal cannula for a mask.

Chin had immediately grasped Kono's arm as they were moved out of the way, now he pulled her into an embrace as the tears she had been fighting began to fall, "He'll be OK, Cuz, he's a fighter," the older man wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure.

On the other side of the bed Steve stood ridged, Cath's hand on his bicep, at that moment he wanted nothing more than to resurrect Lev Petrov and kill him with his bare hands. The SEAL knew what Anthrax could do but seeing it up close and personal because a friend, a brother, was infected… He felt so powerless.

"Steve," Henry got his attention, "Why don't you all go and get something to eat?"

"Not hungry," growled Steve, not wanting to leave.

"I know, but you need to have something," Henry put his hand up to stop the protest that was about to come out of Steve's mouth, "You've been on the go all day and I know none of you will be leaving this hospital during the night. If you're going to be any help to Danny then you need some food and rest."

"I don't want to leave him again."

"I get that, I do," Henry placed a hand on Steve's shoulder and looked him in the eye, "But Danny is in for a rough night and he's going to need you," he glanced round at the other three, "All of you, to get through it. You can't do that if you're out on your feet!"

"Henry's right Steve," Cath told him, "Let's go back to the house, get something to eat, grab a couple of hours sleep and then come back."

"I dunno…" Steve was hesitant to let Danny out of his sight again.

"They're right Steve," chimed in Chin, "Henry and Adam will be here, I'm sure they'll let us know if there's any change," he looked questioningly at the doctor and medic.

"Of course," agreed Henry, "He's sleeping now, which means it's a good time to go and get some rest. He won't even know you're gone."

"Alright," Steve's shoulders dropped as he reluctantly agreed, "We'll be back in a few hours."

"Good and I promise I'll call if there's any change at all," Henry reassured him. He watched as each of the friends touched Danny as if reassuring themselves that he was still alive and then left.

"Thanks Henry," mumbled Danny, the words muffled by the oxygen mask.

"You're lucky he didn't realise you were actually awake," said Henry as he looked over his patient again, taking in the now paler complexion that caused the ever growing number of lesions to stand out in stark contrast.

"They need rest."

"As do you my friend, so I suggest you get some more sleep," Henry placed a cool hand on the much too warm forehead.

"I know, I'm in for a rough night," Danny repeated. It was nothing that he wasn't aware of. He had asked Hanna to go into some detail about what he was facing while he was still coherent enough to understand. Now Danny wasn't sure whether he'd have been better off not knowing that he was heading for pulmonary and organ failure, internal haemorrhaging and if it continued down that road, eventual death. Drowning in your own blood sounded like a horrible way to go! It didn't matter that she had told him that in the unlikely event it got to that stage he would be unconscious and wouldn't know about it, it was still pretty scary and he didn't mind admitting, even if only to himself, that he _was_ scared. Having his friends with him during the night would be something that he knew he would need if he was going to get through this.

"Rest Danny," Adam told him, lifting the oxygen mask and giving Danny a drink before wiping his face again and replacing the mask. Danny simply nodded in response and closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall asleep under the careful and watchful eyes of Henry and Adam.

-5-0-

Steve, Cath, Chin and Kono returned a few hours later. Once they had put on the appropriate gear they entered Danny's room and were greeted by Hanna.

"Henry and Adam are taking a break," she spoke quietly so as not to disturb a slumbering Danny.

"Has he been asleep the whole time?" asked Steve as he approached the bed.

"No," she shook her head, "He fell asleep about thirty minutes ago after a particularly nasty coughing fit."

"Can't you sedate him or something?" Kono wanted to know.

"It's not a good idea at this stage, it could depress his pulmonary functions further and compromise his breathing," Hanna replied, "We only sedated him on the flight over because he was still in the early stages and the stress could have had a worse impact than the sedative."

"Any updates from the scientists?"

Hanna turned her attention to Cath, "Only that they're still working on it. They don't want to rush it and make a mistake."

"Can you keep it down, some of us are trying to sleep!" grumbled Danny, prying his tired eyes open. Although his face was still covered by an oxygen mask they could still make out the smile under it, even if it wasn't up to its usual 'wattage'.

"Hey, you're supposed to be sleeping!" chided Hanna, "We weren't talking that loud!"

"I can sleep when I'm dead," he told her. The room stilled in horror at his words, "Inappropriate?" asked Danny, an eyebrow quirking slightly.

"Uh, yeah, Danno, just a bit," Steve huffed.

Kono moved over to the bed in a few short strides and smacked his arm very gently, "Not funny Danny!"

"Sorry," he replied and then started coughing. Hanna immediately placed a hand on his chest and talked him through it. Giving him instructions to breathe with her and then coaching him. Once it had passed she removed the mask, allowed him a sip of water and cleaned both his face and the mask before replacing it again.

"OK?" she asked her patient.

"Man that hurt!"

"I know," she rubbed his arm soothingly as he calmed down. A noise at the door made her look up, "Oh hey, Adam's back and he's brought some fresh cold packs with him."

"Oh goodie!" the sarcasm wasn't missed by anyone.

"Come on Danny, you know it'll help keep your temperature climbing any higher," Adam told him as he put them on the side and without so much as a 'do you mind' he pulled the covers over so he could remove the pack from his groin area. Danny was just grateful that he was discreet enough to leave him with some of his dignity in tact by not exposing his boxer shorts.

On some level Danny knew it was a bit ridiculous to be worried about his team seeing him in boxers when they lived on an island where it wasn't unusual to see people walking about in bikinis and shorts, but he still had some pride left, thank you very much.

Adam made short work of replacing the packs under his armpits as well, "There you go, all done," he said cheerfully. He handed the old ones to Hanna.

"OK Danny, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Adam. Henry will be back soon as well," she patted his arm and left, taking the old packs to dispose of.

Danny lifted his arm a few inches off the bed, which was all he could manage, and gave her a wave, "So, did you all get some rest?" he asked his friends, glaring at Steve in particular.

Steve rolled his eyes, "Yes Dad!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really Danny," Cath told him, "I promise."

That seemed to be enough to convince him and he turned his attention back to Adam, "Water?"

Nodding the medic poured a fresh glass of chilled water, lifted the mask and slipped the straw into Danny's mouth. He only took a few sips, all he could manage before he was out of breath, but the soothing coolness was like a balm to his sore throat.

Steve, never good at sitting doing nothing, moved so he could reach the bowl on the cabinet, pulled a chair over and made clear his intentions of taking what he saw as his rightful place next to the head of Danny's bed. Adam smiled and stepped back checking the machines. Steve then proceeded to wipe down his friend's face, neck and chest, being careful not to dislodge any lines.

The fact that Danny just closed his eyes and didn't protest told everyone just how unwell the man was feeling. There was a moment of silence before Chin broke it with a story about what one of the Kelly / Kalakaua cousins had been up to that had incurred the wrath of one of the aunties.

Danny let the voices of some of the family he had built on the island wash over him, soothing his somewhat frazzled mind.

The coughing was getting more regular now and it tended to be Steve that talked him through it, gave him a drink and wiped him down now, though Adam was always hovering near by in the event something happened. Henry and Hanna had been in and out of the room checking on him and just spending time with them but they both had other patients to look after too.

It was the early hours of the morning when Danny woke from a light slumber, the now familiar tightening in his chest and tickle in his throat signifying yet another bout of coughing. It only took a slight hand movement to get Steve's attention given that the SEAL hadn't moved from the bed side. A quick glance round the room told Danny he was about to wake up Chin, Kono and Cath but there really wasn't anything he could do about it. The coughing started and in much the same way as had been happening for hours now, Steve coached him through it, encouraging him to breathe in and out at a slower pace.

"Come on Danno, try to relax and just breathe. In… out… in… out," Steve rested a hand on Danny's chest and swept a hand over his forehead, pushing the hair that had fallen in his eyes out of the way. A couple of minutes later and unlike previous times the coughing wasn't subsiding and Danny wasn't catching his breath. The oxygen mask was now covered in more blood than Steve had seen in previous coughing fits as well. A quick, anxious glance at Adam told Steve he'd seen it too.

"Can't… breathe…" Danny spluttered between coughs. His eyes were huge as he looked at Steve.

"Yes you can Danny, come on… in… out…" Steve could hear movement and looked up to see Adam on the other side of the bed. He watched as he pushed the red emergency button that would have Hanna and Henry returning immediately.

Danny's eyes were watering as he gasped, this felt so much worse than the previous times. The tightness in his chest was like a band constricting; so painful and made worse every time he coughed. He could just make out Chin, Kono and Cath behind Adam, gathered tightly together, eyes wide with fear, briefly he wondered if that's what he looked like before he returned his attention to Adam who was still trying to coax him back to a normal breathing pattern.

The door slid open and suddenly Hanna and Henry were also there, but he could no longer respond to them. A brief look at Steve, who was still clinging to Danny's hand, despite being moved out of the way to give Henry access, showed that same fear reflected in his eyes as well. Danny found a blackness encroaching on his vision as the band in his chest got even tighter and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to stop it and it hurt too much for him to really want to, so he let the darkness take him.

Steve watched as the three medical personnel desperately tried to get Danny's breathing in check but saw the moment where Danny lost the fight. His friend's eyes rolled back in his head and the hand that Steve was holding, which had been squeezing his own tightly, went lax.

-5-0-

**A/N: So... Yay! Another chapter! Boo! A cliff hanger. Hiss! Yeah, I have a job interview Friday and my time will be spent prepping for that rather than writing so unlikely that another chapter will go up this week, sorry about that but since I can't earn a living from writing fanfiction I'm kinda stuck with looking for work in the real world!**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: SEE CHAPTER 1.**

**A/N: Thank you as always for the alerts, reading and reviews. Your patience has been appreciated. This is actually a slightly shorter chapter and the story is nearly complete. There is still an epilogue to write and I will do that ASAP and get that posted. In the meantime, enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Steve suddenly found Danny's hand wrenched from his and he started to protest as he was pushed out of the way. Cath grabbed his arm and pulled him round the bed to stand with Chin and Kono against the wall. The four watched in horror as the two doctors and one medic tried desperately to get Danny breathing again.

It was only five minutes later that Henry finally looked up from his patient and over at the four friends. He sighed tiredly before approaching them.

"Henry?"

"He's still with us Steve," the Doctor assured him, "But his pulmonary system is under immense strain and he can no longer manage to breathe on his own, which is why he's now on the ventilator."

"Is he going to make it?" Steve held up his hand to stop the doctor responding as he wasn't finished, "I need you to be honest with me Henry. I haven't told Rachel and Grace what's going on yet, the issue of security aside, I know Danny would hate for Grace to see him struggling like this… but if…" Steve paused, not wanting to voice his fears but needing answers so he could make decisions, "If there's a chance that he's not going to make it, then Grace needs to get a chance to say goodbye."

Hanna joined them, "I can't give you a definite answer," she told the group, "If this was a standard strain of Anthrax then I could give you the odds based on his exposure time and his response to the antibiotics, but this was a weaponised strain that we haven't dealt with before. I can tell you that the three patients who have received a dose of Lawrence's cure have stopped deteriorating…"

"How much longer before he's done?"

"I was on my way to follow up with him and the Navy scientists when I got the page to come here, I'll go and find out. I will tell you that Danny was strong and healthy before he was infected and he has a lot to live for. Don't count him out just yet," Hanna squeezed his arm before leaving the room.

Steve sighed as he returned to the side of the bed and once again took up Danny's lax hand. His friend might not be conscious but if there was even the remote chance that he was somehow aware of things around him then the SEAL wanted him to know he wasn't alone, "You keep fighting Danno. Grace needs you. The team need you. Hell _I _needyou!" This was like a nightmare for Steve, watching Danny struggle to live. The Sarin episode had been bad but this… this was so much worse.

Cath had joined Steve and placed her hand next to his on Danny's arm while Chin and Kono stood the other side and held his other arm. All four wanted the physical connection, hoping that somehow they could convey their strength as well as their support through their touch.

-5-0-

It had to have been the longest night of Steve's life, waiting to see if Danny's condition worsened and the scientists managed to produce more of the cure. After a long discussion with both Hanna and Henry he had decided not to call Rachel at least until morning when they would know more.

Now morning was here, Danny was on a ventilator and seemed to be getting worse. Chin, Kono and Cath had all dozed off in chairs that had been brought in to allow the friends to stay close but they woke up every time one of the doctors entered the room. Steve hadn't left Danny's side, worried that if he stepped away from the bed, even slightly, Danny would choose that moment to give up his fight.

Steve looked up and locked eyes with Akela, a nurse that the 5-0 team were all too familiar with. It had been necessary to bring in someone to spell Adam so that the medic could get some rest and Henry had suggested Akela because of his experience as an ICU nurse as well as with the team. Hanna had agreed and Cath had arranged clearance for the nurse to be brought in on the case.

"Danny's strong Steve, he'll be OK."

There was no way Steve would admit his fears for his best friend with in ear shot of that friend or of the others in the room, so he just nodded and shifted in the chair that had been pulled over to the bed.

The door to the room slid open to reveal Henry and Hanna who entered the room with a bag containing a slightly cloudy fluid. The two doctors smiled as everyone that had previously been sleeping sat bolt upright.

"Karl Lawrence and the Navy scientists finished making more of the cure," Hanna held up the bag and moved to the bed, quickly hanging it on the IV pole next to the bed and attaching it to a port in the cannula in the back of Danny's hand.

"They've synthesised enough for all the patients to now have a full treatment," Henry told the group now huddled near the bed.

"It will be given over several hours," continued Hanna as she adjusted the flow.

"How soon will we see an improvement?" asked Steve.

"As long as he doesn't have a reaction to the medicine it will probably be a few hours," responded Henry. They had discussed the fact that the cure might not work for all the patients. This was, after all, a new medicine that hadn't been trialled in the usual way, but it was also their only option. The potential for it to make things worse was there, but so was the hope that it would be the one thing that would get Danny on the road to recovery.

"More waiting," Kono sighed, as she leaned against Chin, who immediately brought his arm around his cousin's shoulders.

"I know it's hard," Chin spoke softly, "But there really isn't anything else we can do but be here for him."

Everyone pulled the chairs closer to the bed, making sure to leave a space at the head of the bed so that they weren't in the medical team's way. Ordinarily there was no way it would have been allowed but both Akela and Henry had learned to work around the team. Hanna and Adam were getting used to it too.

If everyone regularly checked the monitors in the room, nobody commented. Danny's heart rate; blood pressure; pulse ox and temperature were all being closely monitored. His blood pressure was low; his heart rate slower than it should be; his oxygen levels were also lower than they should be, even with the ventilation. The only thing that was being monitored that was higher than it should be was his temperature which was sitting at a stubborn one hundred and three degrees.

At least one set of eyes were looking at the read outs every few minutes, it was actually Steve that noticed the first change in Danny's condition.

"His temperature has started to come down," he pointed out as he saw the display had changed in the few minutes since he'd last looked. It was only by a couple of points, but it was heading in the right direction. Akela smiled and recorded the information on his patient's chart.

Kono, who had been intermittently placing a cool cloth on Danny's sweating forehead, increased her ministrations, more actively trying to help her friend cool down. Taking another cloth she dropped it into the bowl of cool water on the stand, wrung out the excess water and then removed the cloth that was lying across Danny's forehead and dropped that one back in the cool water. The one she had just wrung out she gently wiped across his face and neck, down onto his chest. Both Akela and Adam had done this before but Kono desperately needed something to do so she had taken over. She now threw herself into it with a renewed vigour, hoping to encourage Danny's temperature to drop even further.

It seemed that was the turning point for Danny and slowly but surely his temperature started to fall, his blood pressure and heart rate increased, though his oxygen levels were slower to recover. The shoulders of the medical team seemed to relax a little as the minutes turned into hours and the numbers continued to improve.

Six long hours later Hanna and Henry finished yet another examination of their patient and smiled at each other before turning their attention to the group waiting for news.

"There's still a way to go, but given the improvement we're already seeing I believe that Danny will recover," Hanna assured the group. A collective whoosh of air was heard as everyone released the breath they'd been holding throughout this latest examination.

"What about his oxygen levels?" Steve asked. It was typical that he would be the one to notice that those had yet to improve significantly.

"Danny's pulmonary system has taken quite a battering and that will take longer to recover," Henry told the SEAL, "We'll be leaving him on the ventilator until such a time as he can maintain the right levels of oxygen in his system independently."

"He'll need to be closely monitored to ensure that he doesn't get a chest infection or pneumonia," Hanna joined in, "Once he's off the ventilator he'll be given exercises to do that will help prevent those scenarios."

Steve ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed his face, tired but happy that it seemed, barring any complications, that Danny was going to live through this.

The news they'd just received meant that the group decided that now would be a good time to get some rest. They were no good to Danny if they were all out because of exhaustion. Steve and Cath left the hospital first to shower, eat and get some rest while Chin and Kono stayed. It had been an uphill battle getting Steve to agree, but out of all of them he had had the least amount of sleep. It also gave him the opportunity to call Rachel.

She had taken the news that Danny was in the hospital following exposure to a chemical that had affected his lungs rather well, all things considered. Of course she had no idea how close they'd come to losing him or what he'd actually been infected with and Steve planned to keep it that way. Rachel had told Steve that she would bring Grace to visit once Danny was off the ventilator. He'd been surprised to find that Danny and Rachel had discussed at what point Grace should be allowed to visit if Danny was hospitalised, though he supposed he shouldn't be; this _was_ Danny he was talking about after all. The man was nothing if not dedicated to protecting his daughter from the ravages of his job if he could.

His responsibilities taken care of Cath sent him to have his shower while she made them some lunch and then the pair headed for bed and a much needed sleep.

-5-0-

The first thing Danny became aware of was the sound of voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but there was something familiar about them. The cotton wool that seemed to have replaced his brain wouldn't let him figure out who it was, but somehow he felt safe so he drifted back off again.

The next time he became aware again started with the sound of voices, but this time the cotton wool sensation had lifted a little, enough that he started to register other sounds and sensations.

There was a constant rhythmic beep accompanied by a rhythmic 'whooshing' sound, somewhere in his hind brain he knew that should be familiar but he pushed the thought to one side to catalogue something from one of his other senses.

Touch, although he didn't think he had the wherewithal to move at that moment, given his body felt like it weighed a ton, he could still feel the sensation of a sheet covering him and he could tell his head was resting on something soft; given this information he presumed he was in a bed of some description, though it was unfamiliar so he figured he wasn't in his own bed.

Sight, well as much as he might want to see where he was at the moment his eyes felt too heavy and just didn't want to cooperate, despite his best efforts.

Smell, there was an antiseptic smell in the air, again something he felt he should know; but there was also another scent, one that made him feel safe and that meant Ohana. It was like gunpowder and the ocean mixed together. His brain supplied the name of the person that smelt like that; Steve. If it had been Kono she would have smelt of gunpowder, the ocean and coconut, because of the moisturiser that she used. Chin would smell like gunpowder, the ocean and grease, because of the fact he liked to work on his motorbike. Grace would smell like strawberries because of the shampoo she loved. Danny was sure he should find the fact that he knew his Ohana's scent so well slightly disturbing, but he was a detective after all and honestly he didn't have the energy to care.

The last of his senses was taste and though he wasn't sure how that would help him figure out what predicament he currently found himself in he did feel the need to lick at what felt like very dry lips. That was when he became aware enough to notice that he had something in his mouth, but not just in his mouth but in his throat. In the time he'd been taking to assess his situation he hadn't once registered the fact that he couldn't swallow properly but he made up for that now as panic suddenly overtook him.

Steve had been standing talking to Henry and Akela in the doorway of the room, giving an occasional glance back at the bed. In the four hours that he'd been gone Danny's temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels had almost returned to what would be called normal levels. He was discussing with the doctor and nurse when Danny was likely to be taken off the ventilator.

"I'd like to keep him on the ventilator for another twelve to twenty four hours, we'll adjust the settings to allow spontaneous breathing and once the monitoring shows an increase in Danny's efforts to breathe for himself we'll remove it."

Nodding Steve was about to ask when Danny would be moved from the isolation room when the sound of a rapidly increasing heart rate interrupted him and he moved quickly to the bed, followed closely by the doctor and nurse.

"It looks like he's coming round," stated Henry, earning himself a glare from the SEAL that clearly said 'no shit'!

"Danno, it's OK, you're safe. You're in Queens Hospital…"

Danny responded to the sudden louder voices by weakly lifting a hand and letting it flop back to the bed. Steve grabbed it and squeezed.

"Danny, it's Henry. You have a tube down your throat to help you breathe, I know it's uncomfortable but it needs to stay in for the time being. I need you to relax."

Blue eyes were suddenly forced open, barely slits as the tired man in the bed didn't have the energy to force his body to do what he really wanted, which was to glare balefully at his doctor! Honestly who told you to relax when you had a tube down your throat?!

"Danno, come on man, you can do it," encouraged Steve, looking desperately at Henry as the heart rate monitor didn't decrease in its beeping, if anything the sound got faster, "You're going to be OK, but the ventilator needs to stay for a bit longer."

Danny squeezed Steve's hand with the last of his reserves, trying to convey how little the idea of the tube in his throat staying appealed. A moment later the cotton wool sensation was back and he felt a hand brush his hair back off his forehead before returning to the place where no sounds or sensations would bother him for the time being.

Steve looked over as Akela emptied the contents of a syringe into Danny's IV port. It was only a few moments later that the beeping of the heart monitor started to settle down and Danny's hand was once again lax in his.

"I gave him a dose of sedative," Akela explained at the querying look he received.

"I asked Akela to have some ready just in case," Henry told Steve, "Waking up and realising that you can't breathe for yourself isn't a very pleasant experience, even less so when you're told that it can't be removed yet."

A raised eyebrow told the doctor that Steve had realised that he was possibly speaking from personal experience, but Steve didn't pursue the matter, "Are you going to keep him sedated until you can remove the ventilator?"

"I think we'll keep a light dose going. He may become aware but it should keep him relaxed enough not to fight the ventilator until it can be removed."

Steve was happy to hear that, seeing and hearing his friend's reaction to waking up wasn't something he wanted to experience again if he could avoid it.

-5-0-

The next morning, after a thankfully mostly uneventful night, the team and Cath were once again by Danny's bedside. There had been several moments throughout the night that Danny had become aware of his surroundings but a few soothing words from whoever was watching over him sent him back into a healing, albeit lightly medicated, sleep.

Hanna and Henry were finally happy with the fact that their patient was attempting to take regular breaths for himself and they were going to take him off the ventilator. The last of the sedative was making its way out of Danny's system so they quickly and efficiently removed the tube and replaced it with an oxygen mask.

A few hard rubs on Danny's sternum and his eyes were peeling open to glare at the person daring to disturb him. Blue eyes looked blearily at the two doctors hovering over him.

"Wha'?" his voice came out muffled, slurred and gravelly, much to his consternation.

"Welcome back Danny," Henry smiled as Adam moved forward, lifted the oxygen mask and slipped a couple of ice chips into his mouth before replacing the mask.

Danny welcomed the coolness on his dry, raw throat, "Wha'?" he repeated.

"Maybe speaking isn't the best thing right now Danno," suggested Steve, leaning over the shorter doctor's shoulder, earning himself a glare from Henry. Of course it was totally the wrong thing to say to the normally verbose detective.

"Wha' happ'n?" he rasped, taking no notice of his best friend and keeping his eyes focused, well as focused as they could be, on his doctor.

"Long story short; you contracted Anthrax; you became so ill we needed to put you on a ventilator which we have just taken you off of. That's why you have the sore throat."

Adam once more lifted the oxygen mask and deposited some more ice chips into his patient's mouth. Danny was grateful, not just for the ice chips but for the moment it allowed him for his sluggish brain to catch up.

"You gave us quite a scare Danno."

Danny glanced at Steve who was wearing a face that he hadn't ever seen before. There were elements of it that he'd noticed on previous occasions where things had gone a little FUBAR, but the strain around his friend's eyes and the clenched jaw combined with a fear in the dark blue eyes gave a whole new meaning to aneurysm and constipation faces. It was a mixture of both of these with… terror was the only word that Danny could come up with to describe the additional look. He knew for sure he was seeing Steve's 'terrified' face and he never wanted to see it again, especially not in conjunction with him. Of everything, that face told Danny how close he'd come to actually dying.

"S'rry," he mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Not your fault Danny. Just get some rest," Steve squeezed his friend's arm as he watched him drift into a normal, non-medicated, sleep.

-5-0-

"Danno!"

Danny peeled his eyes open, still so tired all of the time he was pretty sure he was sleeping more than a new born baby. Still, the voice of an angel was all he needed to ensure that he was awake now, "Gracie!"

Steve strode in behind her with Rachel beside him. The pair greeted him briefly before he turned his full attention to his daughter.

"I missed you Danno!"

"Oh I missed you too Monkey," he wanted to hug her but he was limited by the machines he was still attached to and the safety railing that prevented him from falling unceremoniously out of the bed. Danny had stated that the railing was completely unnecessary given that he didn't have the energy to move more than his arms; he certainly wasn't able to roll sufficiently to fall out of the damn bed! He had been categorically overruled.

Steve saw the predicament and stepped forward; lowering the railing and sitting Grace up on the side of the bed next to her Dad's hip.

"Remember what I said Grace," Rachel gently reminded her daughter.

"I know. Danno has a bruised chest which means no laying on him or hugging him too tight," the girl rolled her eyes because it was at least the tenth time her Mom had reminded her.

It had been hard for Rachel to come up with the best way to explain to Grace what had happened to her father. Danny's chest was indeed bruised from the impact of the bullet that had torn the Hazmat suit he had been wearing, but in the face of the other more serious issues that had been all but forgotten. The fact was that although Danny was now on a nasal cannula, following twenty four hours on a mask, his chest was still tight and having even someone as light as their daughter laying over him wasn't going to help his breathing any.

"How about you lay down next to me?" asked Danny, a little hopefully.

"Can I?" Grace looked from her Mom to her Uncle Steve and then over at Akela who was currently on duty.

"Only for a little while Grace," Akela told her, "Your Dad needs rest," he then smiled and helped her navigate her way around the leads and lines still attached to Danny until she was nestled against his side, her head resting lightly on his shoulder.

Danny smiled down at his daughter and planted a kiss on top of her head. She in turn kissed his jaw, which was as much as she could reach given how she was lying. Father and daughter stayed like that for thirty minutes before Rachel declared that it was time to leave.

To Danny's credit he didn't pout at the declaration, even in the face of his daughter's big brown puppy dog eyes. He simply kissed her again and told her he'd see her the following day after school. Akela helped her off the bed and put the safety railing back in place as Steve escorted Rachel and Grace out. By the time Steve returned Danny was out for the count.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A/N: Thank you, as always, for alerting, reviewing and reading this story. I said in the last chapter that this one would be the epilogue... yeah well, I lied! The muses started typing this morning and wouldn't stop and before you know it I've written more than 4000 words and the story has gone off on a tangent! I'm sure none of you will complain though! Oh, a bit of a 'squick' warning... there will be mention of mucus, if that freaks you out, please don't read!

Chapter 6

"Oh come on Mimi, do I have to?" whined Danny, though he'd have said it wasn't a whine, merely resentment at having to do the exercises the therapist was trying to get him to do.

"Do you want to go home tomorrow Detective Williams?" Mimi stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her recalcitrant patient. She'd been working with him for three days now and today he was being particularly stubborn.

Danny knew she was losing patience when she called him _Detective Williams_, normally they were informal and she called him Danny, "It hurts though!"

"Look Danny, I know these breathing exercises are uncomfortable for you, but the more you do them the easier your chest will feel. Not to mention it helps prevent the risk of pneumonia. If you were to get pneumonia now there's no way you'd be strong enough to fight it and you'd be back on a ventilator. Is that what you want?" she raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"No," sighed Danny, "It's a good job you're pretty, 'cos you're far too bossy for your own good!"

"Uh huh," Mimi rolled her eyes at him, "Are you ready to start?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Remember when you do this after you're discharged you need to make sure you're reclined, use pillows to support your back at the correct angle. Place your hand on your belly," she waited as he shifted his hand, "Now breathe in deeply through your nose, feel your abdomen inflate as you do, your hand should rise. Now exhale slowly through your mouth, relax your muscles and your hand should return to its starting position. You need to do that at least ten times four times a day."

Danny nodded as he kept the exercise going. Honestly he had no idea why he'd been so difficult this morning. He supposed it could be because he was desperate to get out of the hospital now that he was out of isolation and ICU. He didn't see why he needed to spend another day in the hospital when he could just as easily do all this at Steve's. That was something else that made him cross, having to stay at Steve's. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the offer, but he'd barely been alone since he'd been exposed to the Anthrax and he wanted to return home, to his own space. Unfortunately both Henry and Hanna had been adamant about the fact he needed to stay with someone, for at least a couple of weeks, when he was released. Mimi had been working with him on his lung exercises and another therapist had been doing physical therapy to help strengthen his slightly weakened muscles. He hadn't been unconscious that long, but the Anthrax had done a number on his system and left him weak and tired constantly, which basically made for one grumpy and fed up Danny Williams.

"That's good Danny," Mimi told him as he finished his last one, "Now for the huffing…"

"I _really_ don't like this one, it's disgusting!" Danny moaned.

"But necessary!" replied Mimi, "This will get rid of any mucus in your lungs, which could lead to pneumonia," she reminded him; she adjusted the head of the bed and moved his pillows so he was sitting upright, "Take a slow deep breath and hold it for about three seconds. Exhale with a series of short coughs, say the word 'huff' every time you cough; that will keep your throat open. Don't use your throat muscles; make sure you use your abdominal ones. I want you to do this one four times a day as well, but only repeat it three times," she instructed.

Danny coughed the mucus into a tissue and after the third 'huff' he grimaced, wiped his mouth, threw the tissue in the nearby clinical waste bin and grabbed for the water on the nightstand. He rinsed his mouth, spitting the water out into the provided emesis bowl, before enjoying a drink of the cold liquid to take away the taste.

"That is just gross," he grumbled tiredly.

Mimi smiled at him in sympathy and put the head of the bed back so Danny could recline. The huffing exercise always left him feeling rather queasy and made his chest feel like someone had punched him there. She hooked a nasal cannula over his ears and tucked it under his nose, turning the oxygen on that would help ease this part for him, at least a little, "You'll be going home with an oxygen tank and I strongly advise you to use it after you've done your exercises because your sats drop. Thirty minutes on the oxygen should be sufficient to get them back up and will also help you feel better. How are you feeling now?"

"OK," mumbled Danny, "Glad that I had some pain meds before we did this."

"Well make sure you time the exercises to fit in around your medication. It's always best to do them just after you've taken the pain and anti-inflammatory medication."

A knock at the door interrupted the pair and Hanna stuck her head round, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," Danny waved a hand at her before letting it flop back on the bed. The exercises may not seem like much but to his body he may as well have done a marathon.

"How are you doing Danny?"

"Fine. Why can't I go home today?"

Hanna rolled her eyes, something the staff at the hospital seemed to be doing a lot now that Danny was more coherent and awake for longer periods, "I've told you that we need to take a final blood test today and make sure that the treatment we're giving you is working."

"Surely you could have seen that in yesterday's blood test?" he griped.

"This is the last time I'm explaining this to you Danny!" Hanna shook her finger at him, "It's only a week since you've were infected. Strictly speaking you should be staying in the hospital for much longer but because of your support system, which for some unknown reason seems to include Henry and Akela, you can be cared for at home…"

"Not my home," Danny actually pouted.

"Steve's home or the hospital Danny, it's your choice! If it wasn't for Henry and Akela agreeing to monitor you as an outpatient you'd likely be here for at least three more weeks…"

Danny spluttered and then regretted it as his pulmonary system protested with coughs that shook his body. Mimi shook her head at him and coached him through it. Once it was over the tissues and emesis bowl were disposed of in the clinical waste and she helped him drink some water, his hands shaking too much to hold the cup.

"I rest my case!" Hanna crossed her arms, "Honestly I don't know how Henry and Akela put up with you," she scowled at him as he tried, and failed, to glare at her.

"Well, I'm done here," Mimi told them, "Danny I will see you tomorrow morning for a session before you're discharged…"

"Oh goodie!" snarked Danny, though it lacked his usual bite.

"Hanna, good luck!" chuckled Mimi as she squeezed Danny's arm and left them to it.

Danny closed his eyes and tried to relax. He heard Hanna moving around the room, picking up his chart and rustling the papers as she read through it.

"I can order a muscle relaxant to help," Hanna told Danny as she watched his hand rubbing his chest, something he clearly wasn't conscious of doing.

"'K."

The easy capitulation told Hanna just how uncomfortable he was and she was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of discharging him from the hospital after just a week. First things first though, she needed to get her patient comfortable. A quick notation on the chart and she left the room only to return a few minutes later with a syringe. She inserted it into the IV port and emptied the contents.

"There you go Danny. It'll probably make you drowsy."

"The pain meds already do that," he pointed out quietly.

"Then this will make you more so!" Hanna told him, "Look, just rest now. A nurse will come by in a little while and take some blood. We're going to discuss your release in the morning, but I'm telling you now Danny, if I don't think it should happen, then it won't and you'll be a guest here at Queens as long as necessary!"

"You said it was my choice," Danny peeled his eyes open and this time managed to gather enough energy to give the doctor a glare.

"The choice is mine as to whether you stay in the hospital or are released to go and stay with Steve. Your choice is, if I decide to allow you to be discharged, to stay with Steve. If you choose not to then you'll be staying at the hospital," Hanna perched on the edge of the bed by Danny's hip, "Danny can you honestly say that you're capable of looking after yourself right now?"

"Guess not," he acknowledged, reluctantly.

"If, medically speaking, I feel you can be released then I promise that I won't keep you here, but I need you to trust my judgement on this. If I say that you need to stay it's not to punish you. We all want what's best for you and I know being out of the hospital in more comfortable surroundings can help, but I need to be sure that you're ready to leave. Can you do that Danny; can you trust me to do what's best for you?"

"Yeah, yeah I can," Danny didn't even pause to think about it. Hanna had been with him through this whole thing and had never done anything but put his needs first. Even when he got angry at his predicament, she had remained calm and professional.

"Good. I want you to get some rest and I'll see you later."

Danny nodded as he turned on his side, shifting the nasal cannula slightly so he could get comfortable. He knew that one of the nurses would come in and remove it when his sats were back to normal and given his coughing jag that would likely take a bit longer now.

"Hanna," he peered over his shoulder at her as she opened the door to leave, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she smiled as she watched him close his eyes and fall into the sleep of someone who had been extremely ill and needed to rest.

-5-0-

"Good job I brought the truck!" Steve quipped as he entered Danny's hospital room and saw the equipment that they would be taking with them.

"I did warn you," Hanna replied in greeting.

"Alright, let's go over what we have here," Henry stated turning his attention to the equipment, "We've given you some emesis bowls, a couple of clinical waste tubs and an oxygen tank with both a mask and a cannula. These are the medications he's going to need," Henry pointed to the four bags on the table, "This includes pain medication; anti-inflammatories; muscle relaxants and the antibiotics."

"Remember that you need to wear gloves if you are going to touch any tissues that Danny's coughed into or the emesis bowl," Akela reminded the SEAL. Anthrax may not be contagious in the usual ways, but body fluids could cause someone to contract the disease and Danny wasn't free of it yet and probably wouldn't be for a few more weeks.

"Just make sure the clinical waste tub is near me and nobody will need to touch anything," Danny told them, "I am not having anyone near me when I do my breathing exercises." The thought of his Ohana seeing him going through that made him shudder.

"You'll need to be closely monitored Danny," cautioned Henry.

"There are just some things that family don't need to see," responded Danny.

"Either Akela or I will be by first thing to check on you, depending on our shifts, so you can do a session then," Henry held up a hand to stop any objection, "We've seen you in all sorts of situations now Danny and seeing you cough up mucus isn't the worse thing we've seen! We'll do the same in the evening."

"He needs to do the exercises four times a day," pointed out Steve.

"My hours are more flexible," Hanna stated, "I can work round the other Anthrax patients that I'm still caring for so I'll make sure I come by mid-morning and afternoon to go through the exercises with Danny."

"If you start to get low on anything then tell us and we'll make arrangements for one of us to bring what you need. Don't wait until you run out," instructed Henry.

"You have the exercises given to you by the physical therapist to help with your muscle weakness, make sure you do those twice a day," Akela reminded him.

"I spent some time with Danny in his sessions and I'm going to be covering that. I can do that before and after work," Steve informed them.

Danny didn't look overly pleased with this, but it was either that or come back to the hospital every day for sessions with the physical therapist. Given how much his extended Ohana were already doing to help he didn't want to add driving him to the hospital daily to the list.

"Chin, Kono and I are also going to take it in turns to spend the days working from home."

"Hang on," this was news to Danny, "That will leave 5-0 two people down. You can't do that Steve. The Governor won't like it."

"I've already spoken to the Governor and he's agreed it. There will still be two of us on duty every day and the backlog of paperwork will get done so it's a win win situation as far as the Governor is concerned. If we get a major case the person working at mine will be called in and we'll call on one of the back-up people to come in."

"Back-up people? You're going to call for back-up?" snorted Danny, resting a hand on his chest as he coughed.

"What have I told you about that?" Akela sighed as he handed Danny a tissue. Steve pretended not to notice because this was one of the things that made his friend extremely uncomfortable. "No snorting or huffing unless it's during your exercises!"

"Sorry," Danny couldn't help it. The snorting or huffing was kind of a natural reaction with some of the things that Steve came out with, "So who are my babysitters going to be if one of the team can't be there?"

"Er…"

"Steven!"

"Well Kamekona, Max and Charlie have offered to help out," Steve said in a rush.

"The only one of those people that might not be involved in a case is Kamekona; even then you can't guarantee that you won't need him to provide you with information!" Danny pointed out, eyebrow raised.

"It would likely only be for an hour or so until we could get someone from the home care nursing company that we've chosen to use if we need to. Look the chances are that whoever is at my place with you would be able to stay until the home care nurse arrives…"

"Or I could just stay on my own!"

"Or not!" Steve folded his arms across his chest.

"You said it yourself it would likely only be for an hour or so…"

"A lot can happen in an hour Daniel," growled Steve.

"I don't need babysitting Steven!"

"Well your behaviour at this moment is kinda childish so I think perhaps you do!"

"That's enough!" Henry stepped between the two men, "Steve, getting Danny riled up and arguing with him is not the way to aid his recovery," he caught sight of Danny nodding smugly out of the corner of his eye, "And you!" he turned his attention back to his patient, "Steve is trying to do what's best for you and still keep 5-0 running, show some gratitude!"

Both men looked suitably chastised. Danny dropped his head and Steve uncrossed his arms and shuffled from foot to foot.

"Sorry," mumbled Danny.

"Yeah, me too. We'll make it work Danno, I promise," Steve told his friend, moving round Henry and resting a hand on his shoulder, "How about we get out of here? You look ready to fall asleep and I don't want to have to carry you into the house!" He grinned.

Danny rolled his eyes but returned the grin, "Yeah, let's get out of here."

In no time at all the equipment was loaded into the truck and Danny was settled into the passenger seat. Steve waited until he saw Henry's car and then pulled away with the doctor following them. They had decided that for his first day out it would be wise to have one of the doctors with them for the whole day until they could get Danny settled.

Danny was asleep before they'd even left the hospital parking lot and he would have been surprised at the care and caution that Steve drove with. The SEAL was very aware of his sleeping passenger and had no intentions of waking him until they got to the house.

-5-0-

On arrival at Steve's place Danny had woken long enough to be ushered into the house, be checked over by Henry and then settled into the guest room next to Steve's bedroom. The moment his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

Steve quietly set all the necessary equipment up in Danny's room, making sure the clinical waste tub was within easy reach, along with a box of tissues, an emesis bowl and a glass of water. Then he left his best friend to sleep.

Henry had gone up and woken Danny after a couple of hours so that he could do his breathing exercises. The medication that he had to take before and the effort of actually doing the exercises meant that Danny was asleep just minutes after finishing. The doctor stayed by his side until it was time to remove the oxygen and then left him to continue sleeping.

Steve was the next one to wake Danny, presenting him with a bowl of soup for lunch. Danny would like nothing more than to be able to manage something more substantial but his stomach just wouldn't cope with anything heavy so he had been relegated to a mainly liquid diet. This bowl of soup though actually had Danny's stomach growling as he sniffed the air as Steve helped prop him up with an abundance of pillows.

"Mrs Kalakaua's chicken soup," he stated.

"Yeah. She sent over a big pot of it so there's plenty if you want more," Steve stayed until Danny had finished the bowl then helped him to the bathroom before helping him settle back in bed. Once again Danny was out like a light.

Another round of meds and breathing exercises mid-afternoon meant that Danny also slept the afternoon away. It was only when Steve came up when it was nearly dinner time that he finally got fed up with sleeping.

"I wanna get up for a while," Danny told Steve.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'd really like to get some air."

"OK," Steve agreed. He helped Danny to the bathroom and then into a pair of light sweats and a t-shirt before guiding him slowly down the stairs and out to the lanai.

Henry took the opportunity to check his patient over and was happy with what he was seeing, though despite sleeping most of the day Danny still looked tired, that was to be expected for some time yet.

Danny just sat and for once enjoyed the warmth of the day. Steve had made sure to sit him in the shade and there was a gentle breeze blowing off the ocean. Dinner was a quiet affair with just Steve, Henry and Danny. They had all agreed that overwhelming him with lots of visitors on his first day out was not a good idea.

Dinner was another bowl of soup for Danny. The other two men had the same but had some crusty bread to go with theirs, not wanting to eat something different in front of their friend. Afterwards Steve helped Danny move to the recliner in the sitting room and the man dozed there for a little while before deciding he'd had enough. His physical therapy sessions with Steve would start the following morning so a good night's sleep was in order.

Henry took Danny up stairs this time, giving him his last doses of medication before helping him with the breathing exercises. The effort completely wiped him out and he slept heavily that night, not even noticing when Henry removed the oxygen or when Steve checked on him before he went to bed.

-5-0-

"Time to get up Danny!"

"Urgh!" Danny's response wasn't exactly eloquent but it was heartfelt. A week after being released from the hospital and a routine had been easily formed. Sadly for Danny that routine started far earlier than he would have liked and the routine looked set to stay for at least another couple of weeks. Hanna's thoughts that he would need to stay with someone for a couple of weeks were an underestimate and Danny's recovery was slower than they had hoped.

"Come on, we need to get your physical therapy done before I leave for the office." Steve was getting up at his usual time of five thirty, going for his swim, showering, having some breakfast and then waking Danny, so to be fair it could be far earlier that he woke the other man.

"You know Steven," Danny yawned and rubbed at his eyes, "Some people would say that waking a recovering person at," he glanced at the clock beside the bed, despite knowing exactly what time it was, "Seven in the morning, is cruel and unusual punishment!"

"I say it's a necessary evil!" retorted Steve as he helped his reluctant friend out of bed, into sweat pants and into the master bedroom, where there was more floor space to enable him to do the therapy without having to make Danny walk downstairs.

He then spent thirty minutes putting Danny through his physical therapy paces, with much bitching and complaining on Danny's part, though there was no heat in the complaints as he knew it was necessary.

They were just finishing up when the sound of the front door opening was heard, "Hello?"

"Usual place Akela!" Steve called back.

Moments later the large Hawaiian was standing in Steve's bedroom doorway watching as Steve helped Danny stretch after his therapy. Once Steve was done if it was his day to go into the office, like today, he would say his goodbyes and leave the other two men in his bedroom. If it was his day to stay at home and do paperwork he would retreat to the lanai.

Akela left Danny sitting on the floor as he went into the adjoining bathroom and started the bath running. As much as Danny would love to be able to wash himself in the shower he just didn't have the energy for that yet, even though it was now two weeks since he'd been infected. Once the bath was run Akela helped Danny into the bathroom and left him to take care of business and to get into the bath, something he could now just about manage without help. Getting out was a whole other story!

Danny enjoyed the warmth of the bath water, allowing it to help ease the aches generated by his illness and the therapy that he'd just done. Akela allowed him some time to himself before entering the bathroom to help him with his breathing exercises. The warmth and the steam making it a little easier, which was a good thing because they'd discovered taking his pain medication before the bath and breakfast led to Danny passing out.

After he'd done the exercises Danny soaked a little longer before washing, he then used the shower attachment to wash his hair and then Akela came back in and helped him out of the bath because Danny didn't have enough strength to haul himself to stand. This was why Akela now visited every morning and evening, because Danny didn't want Steve helping him with this and the nurse was the only one of the medical team visiting that had the strength to help lift Danny out. Luckily the shifts that Akela worked at Queens meant he could come to Steve's either just before or just after his shift if he was scheduled to work. Danny was extremely grateful to the man for his help and tried not to be too grumpy with him.

After Danny was dressed he went downstairs and drank one of the smoothies that Steve would make for him each morning, take his medication and now he would have some toast as well. It was great to be able to manage a little bit of solid food now. As nice as Kono's Mom's soup was it could become a little boring after eating nothing but that for a few days.

The rest of Danny's day was spent sleeping, having a meal or doing exercises in one form or another. It was because of this continual and repetitive routine that everyone was surprised that it took Danny over two weeks staying with Steve before he finally blew up. Though anyone of them could have predicted that one or both of the men would explode at some point, nobody could have foreseen just how bad it would be.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: Again, thank you for your alerts, reading and commenting. This came out a lot quicker than I expected it to and once again the muses aren't done, though the next chapter isn't really started, but will likely be the last. Yes, I know, I've said that before, but the story really does have to end at some point! I hope this chapter meets everyone's expectations!

WARNING: There is bad language in this chapter! (They're angry, they swear!)

Chapter 7

"Come on Danno, time to get up!"

"Go 'way!" Danny pulled the covers over his head and burrowed deeper.

"Time for your physical therapy, come on," Steve tugged on the covers, but Danny held them firmly.

"Don' wanna!" There was a part of Danny that knew that he was behaving exactly like Grace when she didn't want to go to school, but he was fed up of getting up early every day just to spend it doing nothing.

"I don't have time for this today Danny, I'm due in the office in an hour!" growled Steve. The SEAL was tired. 5-0 had picked up a case that had pretty much run them ragged for the last four days. Thankfully there had been a lot of work that could be done from Steve's so they had only had to call for help once, which had been the previous day. Steve hadn't arrived home until one in the morning and now he needed to get into the office to help Chin start the paperwork and then speak to the man they'd apprehended for drug trafficking. They would have done that last night, but it was late and the guy was demanding a lawyer, given that they had him dead to rights with evidence on him they decided to wait until later in the day to speak to him, allowing both the men some much needed rest.

"Then go!" The response was muffled under the covers.

Steve took a deep breath. Danny had been pretty good for the last two weeks; although he grumbled about the time he had got up and moved through into Steve's room. Today was not a good day for that to change, still he needed to remember that Danny was still recovering so he calmed himself down before speaking again, "We need to do your therapy first Danny."

"I can miss one session!"

"No, Danny, you can't!"

"Of course I can!"

"Do you want to get back to full strength?!" demanded Steve.

"Of course I do!" Danny flicked the covers back slightly and glared at his friend.

"Then get your lazy ass outta this bed and let's get going!"

"No! I'm taking a damn morning off!"  
"It's not like it's work Danny! You don't _do_ anything all day, getting up for some physical therapy means that you at least do _something_! Otherwise you'd just sleep the whole day! Some of us have work to do, so… _Get. Up!_"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me how useless I am!" snarled Danny, "Now fuck off and go to work!" He pulled the covers back over his head.

Steve finally lost control of his temper and grabbed the covers, ripping them out of Danny's hands and throwing them on the floor, "I said get up, damn it!"  
"I said NO!" Danny purposely stayed lying down, "I'm not someone you can just order around Steven! I'm an adult and if I want to skip one session of therapy then I will!"  
"If you're an adult then behave like one and act responsibly for once in your life!" The words were out of Steve's mouth before he thought it through and he knew that he'd just overstepped the mark.

"Act responsible for once in my life?" Danny pushed himself to sit up, grabbing a pair of sweat pants off the nearby chair and hauling them on. He got to his feet and stood in front of Steve, getting right into his personal space. "I am nothing but responsible every god damn day! Rachel wants to move my daughter thousands of miles away? No problem, I'm a responsible adult, Grace is just a child, I'll leave everything and everyone I know and love behind and follow. You get yourself arrested for killing the Governor… no problem I'll just _abandon_ my _responsibilities_ to my child and stay on this godforsaken, pineapple infested, hellhole instead of travelling to Jersey with her and her Mom! _You_ were the one that didn't listen to _me, _yet _you're_ accusing _me_ of being irresponsible. Thanks for that Steven, really!" Danny stepped round Steve and, with as much speed as his energy would allow, he left the room, walked downstairs and headed for the lanai.

It only took a moment for Steve to unfreeze from the shock before he was following Danny, "Where are you going?"

"Away from you before I do something we'll _both_ regret!" growled Danny. He stepped down onto the sand.

"Danny, come back here, you're not well enough to go walking off!" Steve was worried and because of that he didn't think about how ordering Danny back was the wrong tactic.

"Fuck off Steven!"

Steve was about to set off after him when a voice from behind him stopped him, "Steve? What the hell is going on?"

The SEAL turned to face Kono. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "We got into a bit of an argument."

"Yeah, I kinda got that!"

"He doesn't want to speak to me right now, I'm going to head into the office, call me if you need anything," with that Steve was gone before Kono could even argue.

'_Oh yeah, thanks for leaving me with an angry Danny!' _sighed Kono, looking at her watch she realised Akela would be there soon so decided she better corral Danny before the nurse arrived. She hurried down to the water's edge where Danny was currently standing, fists clenched and shoulders heaving.

"Danny…" she spoke softly, like she might to a skittish animal.

"Just… leave me… alone," Danny was trying to rein his temper back in and catch his breath, "Please!"

"I can't do that Danny," she placed a hand gently on Danny's shoulder, "I know you're angry but can you please try to calm down."

"_Kono?!"_ Akela's voice could be heard coming from inside the house.

Kono had a moment to feel relief at the nurse's arrival before Danny dropped to his hands and knees in front of her, one hand moving to rest on his chest. She immediately knelt by his side, "AKELA! On the beach, hurry!" she called back. She was extremely relieved to see the large man running towards them.

"What happened?"

"I don't really know. Steve and Danny were arguing when I got here…"

"Danny," Akela placed his hands on Danny's shoulders to get him to sit back. His eyes were watering with the effort of trying to breathe while not letting a cough over take him, "I need you to relax for me Danny." The man in question shook his head. Akela made a quick decision and before anyone could blink he had Danny in his arms and was hurrying towards the house with Kono hot on his heels. When they reached the sitting room Akela placed Danny on the couch, "Kono, get me an emesis bowl, some tissues and a bottle of water, then grab the oxygen for me. Once you've done that call Doctor Jensen."

To make things easier there had been certain supplies left in the sitting room as well as in Danny's room so they were within easy reach at all times. Kono handed over the emesis bowl and tissues before disappearing into the kitchen for a bottle of water. The moment she had done that she ran up the stairs taking them two at a time to get the oxygen tank and its attachments. Once she'd done that she hurried out of the room to call Henry.

"Stop fighting it Danny, you need to cough," Akela had Danny sitting upright with cushions stacked behind his back and his feet up on the sofa. Danny put his hand on his chest and screwed up his face, the nurse got the message loud and clear, "Yeah, I bet it hurts, but it'll only get worse if you don't allow yourself to cough."

Danny glanced round the room to make sure Kono was gone. He knew Akela was right, could actually feel his chest getting tighter as he wasn't taking in enough air in an effort to try to stop the coughing.

"Kono is calling Henry," Akela knew immediately what the problem was. Danny didn't want her to see him like this, "I'll keep her out of the room, but you _must _cough."

Danny nodded and what followed was possibly the worst fifteen minutes of his life. The coughing was relentless and left him gasping for breath in the few seconds he had between bouts. Akela had fitted the nasal cannula to at least try to help but the blue tinge to Danny's lips was a clear sign that it wasn't enough. The nurse was on the verge of calling for an ambulance when Henry Jensen arrived.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded as he started examining Danny.

"He got into an argument with Steve, other than that I don't really know. I guess the stress of the argument set off the urge to cough but Danny fought it."

Henry tutted and stuck a stethoscope to Danny's chest. Unfortunately Danny was in no condition to follow his instructions to take a deep breath so he put that to one side and took his blood pressure instead.

"Does he need to go to the hospital?" Kono asked from the doorway to the kitchen.

Danny's eyes widened and Akela squeezed his arm before going to Kono and ushering her back out to the lanai. He spoke to her briefly before returning, "I've asked her to wait on the lanai, she wasn't happy about it but she knows that it's important to you."

"Hospital?" he wheezed out.

"Maybe," Henry replied, "But now your coughing has eased a little let's get a full oxygen mask on you."

Akela changed the attachments on the oxygen tank and slipped the mask over his face, double checking that it was set to maximum flow. He then took the clinical waste tub that sat by the couch permanently and emptied the bag and put in a fresh one after he'd donned gloves.

"Alright Danny, rest back now," Henry instructed. He reached into the doctor's bag he'd brought with him and pulled out a couple of syringes, "Morphine and diazepam," he explained, knowing his patient needed the pain relief and the muscle relaxant in equal measures right now. There was no complaint from Danny as Akela helped him turn on to his side so that the injections could be administered into his butt cheek, they would be much faster acting than taking one of his pills would be right now.

Akela monitored Danny closely, removing the oxygen mask only enough to ensure he could have an occasional sip of water to try and ease his parched throat. It didn't take long for the drugs to take effect and Henry was able to listen to Danny's chest to make sure it was clear.

"Well there's some good news after all that," Henry stated. Danny raised a sceptical eyebrow, "Your chest is sounding clearer than I've heard it since this whole thing started." Danny didn't look impressed with the news given the pain that he'd gone through, "It also means that with your colour is returning to normal, the blue tinge to your lips has gone so it looks like we may have avoided a trip to the hospital."

Danny sighed with relief. The last thing he needed right now was to end up back in the hospital. Then again at least it would mean he wasn't _here_, in McGarrett's place. That was going to be awkward.

"Hey!" Henry got Danny's attention, "You need to keep calm. No stress. I said _may_ have avoided a trip to the hospital. The slightest sign of a relapse and I'm calling an ambulance," cautioned Henry.

"Don't you… have work?"

"It's my day off."

"Great way… to spend… it! Sorry."

"These things happen. I was planning on doing a little grocery shopping and maybe spending some time relaxing on the beach. I can still do the latter," he indicated the doors out to the lanai.

"Akela?"

"My day off too," shrugged the nurse, "I was going to relax with a few beers later after I'd done my evening visit with you. I didn't have any plans for the day as I thought I might spend it here anyway."

"Now, you need to get some rest, go to sleep Danny," instructed Henry, taking the blanket from the back of the couch and draping it over the man. Both Akela and Henry watched as he drifted off, oxygen mask still in place.

"I better let Kono in, she'll be worried," Akela got up and went outside.

"Ah Danny, what are we gonna do with you?" sighed Henry, running his hand through his hair. He had no idea how 5-0 had managed to get under his skin but they had, it seemed the same could be said for Akela too.

-5-0-

Doctor Hanna Lee arrived for her mid-morning visit to find Henry and Akela sitting watching Danny, who was lying on the couch asleep. The group had taken a leaf out of Danny's book and didn't bother knocking anymore; their patient's sleep had been disturbed too many times.

"What's going on?" she whispered.

"Let's step outside for a minute," Henry replied, leaving Akela to watch over the slumbering man.

The two doctors joined Kono on the lanai where she'd taken her paperwork, though she was regularly checking on the men to make sure they didn't need anything. She looked up briefly to greet Hanna before getting back to the pile of files in front of her. Henry filled Hanna in on the events of the morning.

"He's been sleeping since?"

"Yeah, but we're monitoring him closely and he knows if there's any change in his condition he'll be going back to the hospital. I'm planning to leave him on oxygen the rest of the day. It's good you're here actually. I'm worried the oxygen tank is going to run out since we're going to be using it more. Would you stay with Akela and Danny while I go to the hospital and get another tank?"

"Of course, I'm not due at the hospital until late this afternoon anyway so take your time."

"Thanks," he looked over at Kono, "I'll be back in about an hour, if you need anything else then call me."

"Will do Henry," replied Kono, smiling as she looked up at him and winked, "Give him hell!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Officer Kalakaua." He grinned at her as he left.

Hanna looked a little confused so Kono took pity on her, "It won't take him an hour to go to the hospital to get another oxygen tank, he's going to go by 5-0's offices and serve Steve his ass!"

"Ah," Hanna gave her a speculative look, "Man, I wish I was a fly on the wall!" The two ladies sat for a moment chuckling, before Hanna returned inside to monitor Danny with Akela.

-5-0-

Henry parked outside the Iolani Palace and with determined strides made his way to the 5-0 offices. When he opened the glass doors Chin was standing out in the main room by the computer table.

"Henry! Is everything OK? Is Danny alright?"

"Hello Chin. No, everything is _not_ OK. Danny is as well as can be expected considering the events of this morning. Is Steve around?"

"In his office," Chin pointed at the closed door. He was more than a little confused by Henry's attitude. He could almost see the anger radiating off the other man and given that he was usually quite placid this had Chin worried, "What's going on?"

Henry ignored Chin's question and practically marched over to Steve's office, not bothering to knock, he flung the door open.

Steve had been sitting staring at the pile of paperwork in front of him. The moment he'd got to the office he had walked past Chin, barely acknowledging his presence and shut the door. The older man being somewhat familiar with Steve's moods had wisely left him to it. The door flying open to reveal Henry surprised him.

"What...?"

"What indeed, Commander McGarrett!" Henry walked into the office without further invitation and stood on the opposite side of Steve's desk, placing his hands firmly on the top and leaning over to get eye level with the SEAL. Steve knew he was in trouble, but the tone and the use of his title told him it was worse than he might have thought, "What the hell were you thinking? What was so important that you had to argue with a sick man? What on this earth made you then walk away and leave Kono to deal with the aftermath?!"

"Steve?" Chin had joined them, standing in the doorway, "What's Henry talking about?"

Henry glanced over his shoulder and saw the confusion on the man's face before turning his attention back to Steve, "You didn't tell Chin that you and Danny argued this morning then?"

"What? No. Steve, what the hell?" Chin moved to stand next to Henry.

"He didn't want to do his PT."

"And?" demanded Henry, he wanted a full explanation. Danny had been in no fit state to give him one and Kono had only entered the house at the tail end of the argument when Danny had walked through the house and outside.

"I didn't have time to argue. I had paperwork and an interrogation to do…"

"An interrogation that we've not been able to do yet because we're waiting for the guy's lawyer!" Chin exclaimed, "You knew that it would be a few hours before we could speak to him again and the paperwork isn't normally top of your priorities," he pointed out reasonably.

"Look, I was tired. We'd been on the go for four days and it had been a late night, or early morning," Steve shook his head, "Whatever. Danny knows PT is at seven AM. He was too damn lazy to get up!" The anger he'd been feeling during the argument was starting to well up again.

"Oh for heaven's sake Steve, missing one PT session isn't going to be the end of the world!" sighed Henry, "Do you have any idea of the consequences of your tantrum?!"

"_My_ tantrum?! Oh that's just great, so this is all my fault? Danny bears no responsibility for his actions? He's the one that was behaving like a teenager being asked to get up and do chores! He was hiding under the covers like a child!"

Henry lost the calm that he had started to find, "I don't doubt he was being difficult," the doctor had dealt with Danny enough to know how he got when he was confined or restricted, "You should have just walked away because the consequences of this are severe!" his voice started to increase in volume, "Do you know what happened after you left? Do you even care?!"

That got Steve's attention and he stood abruptly, placing his own hands on the desk in front of him and leaned in until he and Henry were nose to nose, "Don't you dare accuse me of not caring!" he growled, "For over two weeks I've changed my routine to accommodate Danny and make sure he has all the support he needs! I've put up with his bitching and moaning during every single PT session and I've never said a word! The team have changed how we work, the Governor has supported us and he just wants to throw it all back in our faces!"

"Just because he didn't want to get up at seven in the morning for _one_ session, doesn't mean he's throwing it back in your face!" Henry didn't move a muscle, completely un-intimidated, despite the fact that Steve was a trained SEAL and stood a good six inches taller than him, "Did you ever think that he was just too tired. He's still recovering, you _know_ this and yet you still picked a fight with him!"

"Hang on a minute, back up," Chin stood at the side of the desk and put his hands on each of their shoulders to push the two men back from one another, "Henry, what happened after Steve left?" He had been so surprised by the two men's actions that it had taken him a couple of minutes to take in what Henry had said.

"Kono called me, extremely upset; Danny had collapsed on the beach and couldn't catch his breath. It was lucky Akela had just arrived. When I got to the house Danny was on the couch coughing so badly that he couldn't breathe and despite the fact Akela had fitted the nasal cannula to provide supplementary oxygen his lips were tinged blue. In fact Akela told me he had been close to calling an ambulance when I arrived. From the moment that Danny collapsed on the beach to when we finally got him comfortable enough to rest was over thirty minutes."

"Damn!" exclaimed Chin. He'd have to call his cousin because he knew that she would be taking this development badly.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," Steve stood up straight, eyes wide, his regret written all over his face.

"Of course you didn't, but those are the consequences of your actions and, to be fair, Danny's as well," Henry finally took a deep breath and calmed down, "You said you were tired?"

"Yeah. I didn't get in until around one AM," Steve replied as he sat down, indicating that Henry should do the same.

Nodding Henry took the seat opposite Steve as Chin perched on the end of the desk, "Then maybe Danny wasn't the only one that was too tired to do the PT session."

"Maybe," Steve admitted grudgingly, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Steve," Henry leaned forward in his chair, "I think it's time to admit that you need more help," he held up his hand when the other man started to protest, "There's no shame in it, for either you or Danny. It's in both your interests to prevent this happening again. You've been doing extremely well under difficult circumstances but Danny's recovery is going to take longer than originally predicted. Given what has happened this morning it's going to be at least two more weeks, maybe even three, before he's going to be able to go back to his own place."

"Three weeks?" Steve wasn't questioning it because he didn't want Danny to stay with him that long though, "Is that because of today's set back?" he looked guiltily at Henry for the answer.

"In part, yes, though I think it also proves that perhaps we've been expecting too much too soon. Because of Danny's personality, his stubborn streak, it's easy to forget that he's not as strong right now as he thinks he is."

"He does have a habit of blustering through things to distract you when you're trying to get a straight answer out of him," pointed out Chin, "I think perhaps he's got a bit of cabin fever too."

"Steve, this set back isn't your fault," Henry smiled as Steve looked at him, raising his eyebrows in disbelief, "Alright, not _all_ your fault. Both you and Danny need to take some responsibility; you for not realising you'd reached your limit and asking for help; Danny for not admitting to you that the PT was too much. If he'd admitted it sooner, then it's possible the argument could have been avoided."

"I didn't give him much of an opening this morning to tell me," Steve admitted, "If I had just been calmer and taken the time to sit down and talk to him; ask him why…"

"That brings us neatly back to asking for help when things get too much," Henry told him gently, "I think we need a new plan."

"I agree," Chin nodded.

"OK," Steve agreed, "What do you suggest?"

"That," Henry pointed at the SEAL, "Is an excellent start. Asking for suggestions is always a good way to move forward. First of all if you get a case then you take a step back and request that the home nursing company send someone over, regardless of the fact that you may be able to do some of the work from home. That will take the pressure off you because you'll know that someone will be with him no matter what happens during the case and it will be easier to separate work from home life."

"When we get any case or just when we get a big case?" Steve asked.

"Do you know the difference when you first get assigned a case?"

"No, we don't," Chin answered, "Sometimes a case can look really simple until you start investigating and then it can become more complex and time consuming."

"Then, I would strongly suggest, that you request the help for every case. It's better to have them there and send them home when you realise you don't need them."

"Danny's not going to like it."

"I think you might be surprised Steve," Henry informed him, "I think if it takes some of the pressure off you and the rest of the team he'll agree to it without complaint."

"Yeah, OK. I'll call the home nursing company and let them know we may need them more regularly. Perhaps they'll have some suggestions as to the best way to work it."

"That sounds like a good idea," Chin nodded, "In fact I'll deal with that."

"Good. We also need to arrange an appointment with Danny's physical therapist at the hospital to review the exercises. Given that he's been doing them for two weeks now it's possible they need to be changed. He certainly has more strength than when he left the hospital so perhaps he doesn't need to do quite so much, but I'm not the expert in that."

"Can you set up the appointment Henry?"

"Yes," the doctor was pleased to see that Steve was already starting to ask for help and was accepting that the situation needed to change, "I need to go to the hospital to get a full oxygen tank, so I will talk to Danny's therapist then."

"I also think we need to arrange for Danny to get out of the house more and I don't mean him just sitting on the lanai," suggested Chin, "I know he gets tired easily but perhaps we can use a wheelchair."

Steve huffed a laugh at that, "I don't think Danny will agree to that!"

"It would depend on where you were planning on taking him," Henry looked thoughtful, "If you were just taking him to Kamekona's, for example, then it wouldn't be necessary as the parking lot is close to the truck or the shave ice stand, depending on which one you go to. If you wanted to take him somewhere else that required a bit more walking then the wheelchair would have to be made a condition of the trip out. No wheelchair, no outing! I'll speak to him about it later."

"That's a good idea; it would probably go over better coming from you!" Steve smiled gratefully.

"If all else fails I'll get Grace to help, you know he can't say no to her," Chin chuckled.

"True. Anything else?"

"I think that's it for now, but it's a good start." Henry got to his feet, "Now I'm going to get that oxygen and get back to the house to check on our recalcitrant patient!"

"Thanks Henry. Once we've talked to the guy we arrested I'll head home."

"I'll be coming too," Chin told them.

"That's good, I think that Danny will need everyone's support but most of all I think he'll want to talk to you, Steve."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Quite sure. I think when he wakes up and what happened this morning sinks in he'll feel just as bad about it as you do."

"I hope you're right about that Henry."

"He is," Chin smiled at Steve, "I know you both pretty well and though you're both stubborn asses, you also both have guilt complexes!"

"Hey!" Steve gently shoved Chin so he slid off the desk.

"It'll be alright Steve, you'll see," Henry walked out the door, "See you later," he called over his shoulder as he left.


	8. Chapter 8

DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the alerts, reviews and just for reading! This is the final chapter, an epilogue, hence the reason it is shorter! It's been a fun journey, all thanks to Mimi05 talking about Danny in the shower, I'll say no more about that! I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time.

Chapter 8

Steve pulled up outside his house and sat in the truck staring. This was his home he shouldn't be nervous about entering it, but because of the argument with Danny that morning he was. A knock on his window made him jump.

"Come on, staring at the house won't resolve things," chided Chin. He'd followed Steve on his motorbike.

"I know," sighed Steve as he opened the door.

"It'll be OK," Chin slapped Steve on the shoulder before walking ahead of him into the house, Steve still dragging his feet a little.

Taking a deep breath Steve entered the house and the first thing he saw was Danny still asleep on the couch. Steve walked quietly over to look at him after nodding a greeting to Akela and Henry. His friend looked pale and worn. Even asleep Steve could see the dark circles under his eyes and the oxygen mask just accentuated the fact that he'd had a bad day as far as his recovery was concerned.

"I'm sorry Danno," he whispered on a sigh.

"That might mean more when he's awake," Kono said quietly from where she'd walked up next to him.

"Yeah, I know."

"Come on, leave him to sleep," she placed a hand at his elbow and led him out the lanai, pouring a glass of iced tea and placing it in front of him.

"Has he been awake at all?"

"A couple of times and just so you know, he feels as bad about this morning as you do."

"I doubt that," Steve leaned forward, elbows on his knees, glass between his hands.

Kono sat in the chair next to him, "He's had a lecture from Henry, Hanna and Akela. I'm betting it was a little less confrontational than the one Henry gave you," Steve snorted a little at that, "Danny knows that he should have said something."

"Then why didn't he?"

"You can ask him later," Henry told him joining them on the lanai.

"Why don't you go for a swim, brah," suggested Chin.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he nodded as he went into the house to change. It didn't take long and he was walking into the warm clear water. The moment the ocean washed over his head he felt his body relax. This was what helped him get through the bad days. Right now what did Danny have? That was a question that Steve would try to answer later when the other man woke up.

-5-0-

Danny woke up and felt better than he had all day. He looked around and saw Akela smile at him and get up.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he sat on the edge of the couch by Danny's legs.

"Better," the reply was muffled under the oxygen mask and he reached up to take it off.

"Leave that on, at least until Henry tells you otherwise," cautioned Akela.

"I need to go to the bathroom," he grumbled in response.

"Fine, I'll take it off while you do that, but once you're done I'm putting it back on!"

"OK," agreed Danny, after his earlier experience of not being able to catch his breath he wasn't arguing with the other man, not to mention the nurse was built and could probably crush him with one hand!

Akela turned off the oxygen supply and removed the mask and then helped Danny sit up. He took a moment to allow the change in perspective to register since he had been laying down for the best part of the day and then the nurse helped him to his feet and they shuffled to the downstairs bathroom. Akela left him alone but made sure he stayed outside the door in case he needed help.

When Danny was done Akela helped him back to the couch but allowed him to sit up, "I'm just going to get Henry."

A moment later the doctor and nurse returned, "How are you feeling Danny?"

"Tired," his hand rubbed subconsciously at his chest.

"Is your chest hurting?"

"Yeah, a little."

"OK, let's have a look at you," Henry took hold of the bag next to him and proceeded to give Danny a thorough check up.

"What's the verdict?" queried Danny when he'd finished.

"Your lungs still sound relatively clear but I want you to keep using the oxygen."

"How long for?"

"Until tomorrow morning," Henry replied, watching as Danny's face fell, "We can change you to the nasal cannula now, which should make it a little more comfortable."

Akela changed the attachment on the tank and slipped the nasal cannula over Danny's ears and under his nose before turning the tank back on.

"The oxygen is only a precaution Danny but I think it's necessary. You put a lot of strain on your pulmonary system this morning and you're still recovering."

"I know. I haven't forgotten what you said earlier."

"Good. Steve should be back from his swim, you two need to talk."

"Yeah, I know," Danny hung his head slightly.

"There are some things I talked about with him and Chin earlier that might help prevent this situation arising again. Would you like me to tell you what they were?" Henry asked gently. This was the first time the doctor thought his patient was ready to hear what he had to say.

"OK."

"Steve is going to arrange for the home nursing company to send someone whenever there's a case, no matter how small it may seem. That way if the team need to suddenly up and leave there's no waiting and no stress."

"That makes sense," Danny agreed readily. Steve would be surprised to hear his friend's easy acquiescence, though his next words would have cleared up why, "I won't have to feel guilty about keeping them from doing their job then either."

Henry nodded, "Next, physical therapy," Danny's face screwed up, "Yes, I know, that part of your routine has worn you down. I've made an appointment for you with your physical therapist and your breathing therapist for tomorrow. Both of them will review your exercises with you. It's up to you whether Steve joins you when you see the physical therapist or not."

Danny ran his hands through his hair, careful not to catch the nasal cannula, "I'd like him to be there, I mean he has helped me through the last two weeks of therapy…" he trailed off.

"It just got to be a little much, waking up at seven AM when you're so tired," Henry filled in.

"Yeah."

"Make sure you discuss this with the therapist Danny. He deals with patients that are recovering from a variety of injuries and illnesses, some of which have been debilitating, leaving patients exhausted. He'll help you and Steve work out a plan that fits in around both of you."

"Sounds good. Anything else?"

"One last thing. Chin suggested that it might be helpful to get you out of the house a little more and not just to sit on the lanai."

"That would be good," Danny agreed.

"There would be conditions."

"Let me guess, a wheelchair."

Henry smiled at Danny's perceptiveness, "Yes, but only if you're going somewhere that would require walking for a prolonged period. If you were just going to visit Kamekona at his truck or shave ice stand then there wouldn't be far to walk. However if you wanted to go to the park with Grace then you would need to use the wheelchair. No wheelchair, no trip out. Am I clear?"

"Yes Henry," Danny wanted nothing more than to be able to get out of the house and if that meant occasionally sitting in a wheelchair, then he'd live with that.

"Excellent!" Henry sat back, "Can you think of anything else that might help?"

"Not right now, no."

"OK, well if you do, let someone know."

"I will, I remember what you said earlier and you were right. I should have spoken to someone about how I was feeling, but everyone's done so much for me I didn't want to seem ungrateful," Danny sighed, "You and Akela stopping by every day; Hanna making herself available; Chin and Kono working from here every few days… and Steve too, not to mention the fact he cut out his run in the mornings to do the therapy with me, complaining I was tired just felt like I'd be throwing that back in your faces."

"Oh Danno," Steve entered the room from the kitchen. He'd had a good swim, rinsed off under the outdoor shower and changed into some board shorts and a t-shirt that he kept in the laundry room, "I never meant to make you feel like you couldn't tell me you'd had enough," Steve sat on the coffee table as Henry got up and patted him on the shoulder, leaving the two men to talk.

"I did eventually," Danny pointed out with a wry smile.

"Yeah, we didn't handle that very well," huffed Steve.

"That might be an understatement," Danny snorted, coughing when he did.

Steve immediately handed him the box of tissues and moved the clinical waste bin nearer to him, "Easy Danny," his brow furrowed in concern.

"I'm OK," Danny told him, seeing the worry, quickly followed by the scepticism when he said that, "Well better than I was this morning anyway," he amended.

"Danny, I'm so sorry that we argued like that this morning…"

Danny held his hand up to prevent Steve from going any further with his apology, "Don't babe, it was my fault. I behaved like an ass."

"I can't argue with that, but so did I!"

"OK, so we're both asses," Danny nodded, "Stubborn asses."

"Has Henry told you about the changes he, Chin and I discussed?"

"Yeah, he has and I think they're a good idea."

"All of them?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, all of them. Even the wheelchair."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Well I thought there'd be an argument at least about that!"

"If it gets me out of the house for a while then I'm all for it! I'm not saying that at some point I won't fight you on using it when I'm feeling better, but right now I've got about as much co-ordination as a deer on ice."

"A deer on ice?"

"Grace likes Bambi, wanna make an issue of it?!"

Steve held up his hands grinning, "Nope, no issue here."

Danny grinned back before turning serious again, "I'm sorry Steve. I said some things I really didn't mean…"

"No," Steve waved his friend's apology away, "I'm sorry Danno, I should never have accused you of being irresponsible…"

"Hey," Danny interrupted, "How about we agree, we both said things we regret…"

"Yeah, we did."

"We OK?"

"Yeah, we're good," Steve reached out and pulled Danny into a brief hug.

"Awww, you made up," Kono cooed from the kitchen door.

Both men turned and glared at her, "Kono!"

She laughed, "Dinner's ready."

"It is?"

"Yeah brah, Kamekona has brought some of his garlic shrimp over mixed with some pasta and Hanna picked up some ice cream for dessert, so if you want to get any food you better hustle!"

"Hey, no hurrying the sick guy!"

"Alright, you got me there; I'll make sure we save you some," she turned to Steve, "Not so sure about you though…"

"Hey, sick guy needs help to get out to the lanai…" Steve mock glared.

"Fine, I'll make sure there's some left for you, just come on!" Kono laughed and disappeared.

Steve wasn't sure what to do about the oxygen when Akela entered the room and solved that issue, "Henry says we can take you off the oxygen during dinner," he turned off the tank and removed the cannula before he and Steve helped Danny out to the lanai.

Danny settled in his seat between Steve and Henry, his mouth watering at the sight of a plate heaped with the pasta dish Kamekona had put together, "This looks good Shamu," he grinned at the other man.

"Only de best for you Jersey!" Kamekona grinned right back and watched the detective digging in, pleased to see that his offering was going down so well.

Danny thoroughly enjoyed his meal. His appetite had been fairly 'off' the last couple of weeks, it had only been in the last few days that he had started to enjoy food again. This meal was the perfect blend of enough flavours to stimulate his taste buds without being over powering. It wasn't just the food that made the meal enjoyable though, it was the fact that he and Steve had managed to sort out what had caused their argument that morning and now they were surrounded by friends.

Once the meal was finished and everything had been cleared away Danny sat back and contemplated how lucky he was to have these people in his life. Without them he wasn't sure he would have got through being infected with Anthrax. He knew he still had a way to go and that there would be bumps in the road and he had absolutely no doubt that one of those bumps would be caused by the wheelchair that was now sitting by Steve's front door, but he knew, that with the support of his extended ohana that now included Henry, Hanna and Akela, he could get through it.


End file.
